Sierra Leone arrests 3 responsible for Covid response for transplant

Africa News of Friday 25 December 2020

Source: theeastafrican.co.ke

2020-12-25

Three senior officials managing Sierra Leone’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic have been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for alleged corruption.

Those responsible, who have not been named, were arrested after the publication of a damning audit report that sparked national outrage.

The report on funds allocated to the Covid-19 response is one of two released last week by the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL), the independent agency responsible for auditing government accounts. They reveal a massive plunder of resources allocated to government ministries, departments and agencies.

Irregularities, according to reports, include unauthorized spending, inflated prices, breach of contract, payroll violations, among others.

According to the ACC, detained officials were participating in investigations into three of the many issues noted in the audit report on the Covid response: around four dozen missing laptops, the purchase of luxury vehicles for those responsible for the answer and a missing generator given to the National. Covid-19 Emergency Response Center (NaCOVERC) by the Chinese government.

ACC spokesperson Moriss Ibrahim Kanteh said he expected to make further arrests as investigations progressed.

“It is possible that more individuals will be brought in,” said Kanteh who refused to disclose the identity of those detained because of the risk of compromising ongoing investigations.

“All I can say is that the inmates are [of NaCOVERC] who made decisions on matters under investigation, ”he added.

The audit report sparked outrage among Sierra Leoneans, many of whom took to social media to voice their frustrations.

It comes as the Commission struggles to address the outstanding issues raised by the 2018 audit reports, which formed the basis of ongoing actions against officials who served in the administration of President Julius Maada’s predecessor Bio , Ernest Bai Koroma.

For accountability activists, the 2019 report is a sad reminder of the 2018 audit report, which revealed similar levels of corruption in government.