May 24, 2021
By: Francis F.M.Harding
Nine workers who have been working for the Semen Construction Company Limited have been sent back at the Male Correctional Center at Pademba Road in Freetown. The accused persons were remanded on two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, to wit, Larceny contrary to Law, and a larceny charge contrary to section 2 of the Larceny Act of 1916.
A Ghanaian Engineer of the Semen Construction Company Limited Mike Maiwoo was in court as First Prosecution Witness (PW1) to testify Mohamed Bah, Thomas Manu, Suliaman Koroma, Gibril Jalloh, Mohamed Lamin Koroma, Kwesi Earsh, Amara Kanu, Gibrilla Tarawalie and Cardrew George were allegedly in court on two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, to wit, Larceny contrary to Law, and a larceny charge contrary to section 2 of the Larceny Act of 1916.
According to the police charged sheets they were charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, to wit, Larceny contrary to Law, and a larceny charge contrary to section 2 of the Larceny Act of 1916. The accused persons between 1st January, 2019 and 15th April, 2021, in Port Loko district in the Northern part of Sierra Leone stole plethora of items, including the Company vehicles, air conditioners, generators, tires, among others, all of which are property of Semen Ghana Construction Company, whiles they were in the possession of one Michael Maiwoo.
According to estimates,all of the items worth over four billion Leones.
Testifying in court, PW1 Mike Maiwoo said he recognized the nine accused persons and accused persons two to nine are security personnel for the company. The Witness said their company had a contract to build roads in Port Loko, Lungi and Kambia and after the end of the contract the company didn’t have any other contract, so the company decided to pack all their equipment’s in the Mechanical Services Unit (MSU) compound. The witness continued to say the machines were left in the care of the second to the nine accused persons as security guards in the said compound.
According to the Witness, since there was no job he returned to Ghana to stay with his family for family attachment.
The Witness further said sometimes in January, 2021, he received a text message from one Mohamed Bah in respect of renting of one bulldozer of the said company.
He later revealed to the court that he responded that he was not interested in renting any of the equipment’s. He noted that in February, 2021 he received a phone call from Sierra Leone that some of the company’s equipment’s were been taken out of the compound without his consent.
According to the Witness, he called Momoh Conteh one of his personal drivers in Sierra Leone, and asked him to check at the compound to ascertain if what he heard was true, and it was confirmed that the aforementioned bulldozer was not in the compound. The witness said that he later learnt that the said machine is in Kambia and later he sent his personal drive who later confirmed that the machine is in Kambia. Mainoo said he contacted a friend who is working at the Gento Construction Company to intervene.
He said that it took two weeks before the machines were taken back. He in his testimony that a day after the machine got to the MSU compound in Port Loko, he received another phone call from Sierra Leone, and he was told that the caterpillar was also missing. Thereafter the witness said he left for Sierra Leone on the 11th April, 2021.
Mr. Maiwoo said the following day he decided to visit the two sites to see what obtains there. The witness said on his way to the site he got a phone call from the ninth accused person who told him he was on night duty when he saw a truck entering the compound. He said four of the accused persons were on duty, but when they saw the trucks they ran into the bush to seek shelter.
The Witness revealed that on that night he learnt that 900 KVA Generator’s valued at over $300,000 USD; equivalent to over three billion one hundred and fifty million Leones had been stolen. Maiwoo said that he later retrieved some of the items and reported the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). “The CID officers arrested the second to the ninth accused persons in Port Loko”Mr Moiwoo explained.
Mr Moiwoo continued that he and the fourth accused person went to Bumbuna where the caterpillar machine was discovered and is currently in custody of the police. “The fourth accused person told me that he rented the caterpillar to the first accused person when apprehended by the police”
At this juncture the State prosecutor requested for an adjournment for him to have proper conference with the witness.
Defense counsel Mansaray made an application for bail for the ninth accused persons, saying that his clients had credible sureties who will ensure that the accused persons be produced at any time. The Magistrate said he will consider bail when the complainant testimony has been tested through cross examination. The accused persons were denied bail and remanded at the Male Pademba Road Centre.
Inspector I.S. Mansaray was prosecuting for the State while Lawyer M. Mansaray represented the nine accused persons. The matter has been adjourned to the 20th May, 2021.