September 23, 2021
By Audrey John
Second Prosecution, Michael Moses the verification officer for Dyna Lab Company Sierra Leone Limited in Freetown has on the 22nd September, 2021 testified before Magistrate Sahr Keikura of Pademba Road Court No.1 on one count charge to wit embezzlement contrary to section 17(1) (b) of the Larceny Act 1916 against the Operations Manager, Mohamed Suluku Kamara.
The witness said he recognized the accused person as former operations manager for Dyna Lab Company Sierra Leone Limited. He said he started working in the company in October 2019 on probation and later became a substantive staff in January 2020; his duties as a verification officer is to write invoices or dispatch notes to production officers and also enters transfer of the product he received.
PW 2 said he recalled the period between 1st April 2021 and Wednesday 30th 2021 he had cause to verify the accused person shop at Waterloo before travelling to Kono district.
He said visited Kono and Waterloo for verification and on his way to Kono he called the accused person that he was heading to the said district. The accused promised to send a phone number of one Zainab Mansaray which will give him direction to the shop when he called. The witness said he went to Kono on verification purpose and will be counting all the products in the shop.
After he submitted his findings, the witness was instructed to write the accused in respect of the missing product and was signed by him and it was tender as exhibit D.
Witness said he later wrote a letter to the accused person dated 22nd March 2021 in respect of undeclared sales of goods in Kono and the document was presented in court.
Another time, the witness said he wrote another letter to the accused person demanding payment in respect of the product supplied to him while in Kono. The witness said he later discover that the accused person has to account with two hundred and sixty six million four thousand and thirty seven thousand Leones in them, and that the undeclared sales for the missing goods amounted to seventy million four hundred and sixty two thousand Leones. The witness said the accused person is responsible for the administration and the running cost of the respective centers and should pay the proceeds of sales into the company account.
The witness said upon that he made statements at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters at Pademba road, Freetown.
Cross-examination by defense Counsel Charles Margai asked the accused person if he have seen a Memorandum article of Association; the witness said No. at this point the counsel requested for an adjournment date to continue his Cross-examination, while he also renewed his bail application on behalf of his client.
Magistrate Keikura said having considered the weight of the evidence adduced before the court and the seriousness of the allegation and also taken into recognizance that the accused was the operations manager of the company and the witness is a worker of the company if put on bail at this stage he will interfere with prosecution witnesses.
According to the particulars of offence on a date between Tuesday 1st April 2021 and Wednesday 30th June 2021the Western area in Freetown being an employee of Dyna Lab Sierra Leone Limited fraudulently embezzled two hundred and forty four million eight hundred and ninety nine thousand Leones (244,899,000) being proceeds from sales of Dyna Lab Standardized herbs and nutritional Supplements .
Lawyer Sahid Sesay represented the complainant in this matter, while the accused is being sent to the Pademba Road Correctional center; matter adjourned to the 29th September 2021.