By: Haja Hawa Koroma
The Anti-Corruption Commission has concluded its investigations on the alleged fake PhD degree of the Senior Commissioner Domestic Tax, National Revenue Authority Ibrahim Sorie Kamara.
The work is part of the ACC’s support to the Tertiary Education Commission, the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education and other partner stakeholders that are responsible for the verification of credentials of public officers in Sierra Leone.
The Commission therefore informs the general public of its conclusion with the investigations on the credentials and qualification of the Senior Commissioner of the Domestic Tax Department, at the National Revenue Authority NRA, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara.
The allegations were that he acquired a fake Doctor of Philosophy PhD Degree. It was further alleged that Ibrahim Sorie Kamara used the said fake PhD degree to gain promotion at the NRA.
Due to these allegations, the ACC then conducted a thorough investigation into the matter and various officials of the NRA, including the Board Secretary, the Director of Human Resource and Ibrahim Sorie Kamara himself, were interviewed in the process.
According to the investigations, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara had attained a Bachelor of Science with Honors Degree in Accounting in 2001, an Affiliate Certificate from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA), and a Master of Philosophy in Taxation. In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary degree in Taxation, which was jointly awarded by the London Graduate School and the Commonwealth University Business, Arts Technology, both institutions being unaccredited and therefore not competent to award PhD, having paid a total sum of Five Thousand, Five Hundred United States Dollars (USD$ 5,500) and these said payment were not made by the NRA, but out of the personal funds of Ibrahim Sorie Kamara.
Furthermore, the promotion of Ibrahim Sorie Kamara from Commissioner to Senior Commissioner of the Domestic Tax Department was squarely based on competence and experience having worked at the NRA for over 18 years and not contingent on the unaccredited PhD which he was awarded while already in post.
This decision was taken by the Board and Management of NRA and other members of staff who also benefited from it.
Also, the element of an advantage being conferred on him within the meaning of the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 as Amended in 2019 has not been met and therefore the ACC has closed its investigations and will proceed with others.
In addition to this, he has been advised not to use the questionable PhD for any advantage in the public service.
The ACC wishes to further inform the public that it is also investigating other individuals and institutions whose staff are alleged to have ‘fake degrees/certificates’ and had used them to confer an advantage on themselves and that they will continue to update the public accordingly as soon as those investigations are concluded.
