Skip to main content

Sierra Leone anti-graft body seeks to quiz ex-president

Sierra Leone anti-graft body seeks to quiz ex-president
Ernest Bai Koroma

Sierra Leonean anti-corruption investigators requested to interview ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma on Wednesday, a spokesman said, after the government pledged to recover funds allegedly embezzled under his watch.

The move follows the end of a year-long graft probe into Koroma and his former ministers in March, which found that funds worth tens of millions of dollars remain unaccounted for.

Sierra Leone’s current president, Julius Maada Bio, pledged this month to claw back any misappropriated funds.

On Wednesday, the West African state’s anti-corruption commission requested to quiz Koroma in person on October 5, the body’s spokesman Patrick Sandy said.

ALSO READ: Sierra Leone vows to retrieve funds ‘stolen’ under ex-president

The justice ministry on Monday banned the ex-president and several other former ministers from leaving the country.

Koroma did not respond to a request for comment from AFP.

Members of the ex-president’s All Peoples Congress party have dismissed the corruption probe as a “witch-hunt”, however.

Sierra Leone boasts huge mineral and diamond deposits, but it remains one of the world’s poorest nations, still recovering from decades of war and disease.

Koroma governed the country of some 7.5 million people from 2007 until 2018, when Bio won a presidential election on promises to tackle corruption.

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria.

The post Sierra Leone anti-graft body seeks to quiz ex-president appeared first on Vanguard News.


by Rasheed Sobowale via Vanguard News https://ift.tt/3iiHyPk Wikipedia Our Friends From Virginia
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Court sentences man to death by hanging for killing mother over ‘disappearing’ charm

A High Court sitting in Jos, on Thursday sentenced a 20-year-old man, Agugu Adau, to death by hanging for killing his mother. Continue reading Court sentences man to death by hanging for killing mother over ‘disappearing’ charm at Vanguard News Nigeria. by adekunle via Vanguard News Nigeria https://ift.tt/2SvOYSw Wikipedia Our Friends From Virginia
Post a Comment
Read more

Algerian protesters march on in defiance of ‘The Power’

Riad Mostefai has marched through the capital of Algeria every Friday since February to demand a purge of the ruling hierarchy, an end to corruption and the army’s withdrawal from politics. Though some of his demands have been met, Mostefai plans to keep on marching each week along with tens of thousands of others who don’t believe an election in December will change anything, as long as an opaque ruling elite remains in charge. Continue reading Algerian protesters march on in defiance of ‘The Power’ at Vanguard News. by Temisan Amoye via Vanguard News https://ift.tt/36ick64 Wikipedia Our Friends From Virginia
Post a Comment
Read more

Chad abolishes death penalty for terrorist acts

Boko Haram terrorists Chad on Tuesday abolished the death penalty for terrorist acts, quashing an exception that was on the books for four years, Justice Minister Djimet Arabi told AFP. The Sahel country passed legislation in 2016 to abolish capital punishment, but made an exception for perpetrators of terrorism. Arabi, who proposed the amendment, said the vote was unanimous and the law would come into force once it is approved by President Idriss Deby Itno, whose party enjoys a huge majority in parliament. The change is “aimed at harmonising our laws in line with all the countries of the G5 Sahel Group,” the minister said. Chad’s military is a key part of the 5,000-strong G5 force alongside Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Mauritania that cooperates with French troops to combat a growing Islamist insurgency. ALSO READ:  Mystery over 44 dead Boko Haram members in Chad prison The last execution carried out in Chad was in August 2015 when 10 suspected members of the Islamist g...
Post a Comment
Read more