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Ernest Bai Koroma was President of Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018. By SEYLLOU (AFP / File)
An audit issued by the Sierra Leone Finance Ministry has accused the government of former president Ernest Bai Koroma of having embezzled more than a billion dollars, officials said Tuesday.
Finance Minister Jacob Jusu Saffa pledged to "recover all stolen funds to provide basic amenities to our people" after the audit revealed the hole in public finances during the Koroma Decade of September 2007 to April 2018.
"The audit revealed serious violations of the procurement process in the award of contracts in the energy, roads, pensions and telecommunications sectors, for an amount of 1,036 billion, "said the minister.
A total of 50 auditors from Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Sierra Leone conducted the technical audit with funding from UK Aid to investigate widespread corruption in the public sectors of Sierra Leone between 2015 and 2018.
More than US $ 500 million had not been accounted for in road contracts with the Sierra Leone Highway Authority, the report says.
Julius Maada Bio took office as president last year following a tumultuous campaign in which he pledged to fight corruption.
"Those deemed insufficient in the audit report must repay the money by the end of June 2019 or face the law," said Jusu Saffa.
"This money represents three times more than health and five times more than the financing of education," said AFP Abubakr Kamara, coordinator of the budget defense network of a local NGO. .
"The government should use funds recovered from corrupt officials to improve funding for health, water and education," Kamara said.
AFP contacted several of the people cited in the report but denied any wrongdoing and declined to comment further.
An investigating commission began its work in February after the publication of a damning report that "widespread corruption" under the Koroma administration had resulted in the "near collapse" of the government. economy of the West African nation.
Although Sierra Leone has huge deposits of minerals and diamonds, the former British colony remains one of the poorest nations in the world and is only slowly recovering from the 1991-2000 civil war, which made 120,000 dead.
An Ebola outbreak in 2014-2016 and a drop in the price of commodities also dealt a severe blow to the country.
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