By: Audrey Raymonda John
Mohamed Bah, an auxiliary staff member at the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Country Planning, has been remanded after appearing before Magistrate John Manso Fornah at Pademba Road Court No. 2 in Freetown. He faces five charges including conspiracy to commit a felony, forgery, uttering a forged survey plan, trespass, and obtaining money by false pretences, all contrary to the Larceny Act of 1916.
According to the charge sheet, on 13th February 2025, at the Ministry’s Youyi Building office in Freetown, Bah conspired with others unknown to commit forgery. He allegedly forged a survey site plan, purporting it to be an authentic document.
Count Three of the indictment alleges that Bah knowingly presented the forged survey plan, bearing LS number 313/25, for a 1.1090-acre plot of private land located at Kotopema, MacDonald (off Peninsula Road, Freetown). The land in question is owned by Mr. Sheku Jawara and Mrs. Isata Selvine Jawara.
On 3rd January 2025, Bah is further accused of trespassing on state land* in the same Kotopema MacDonald area after allegedly being warned not to do so.
Finally, between 1st and 6th January 2025, at Bar Junction, Goderich, the accused reportedly collected Le17,000 from Sheku Jawara under the pretense of preparing and submitting a legitimate survey plan for the Jawaras knowing it to be false.
Abraham Cooper, a civil servant and Deputy Director of Surveys and Lands at the Ministry, testified as the prosecution’s first witness. He identified the accused as a support staff member and explained how the alleged forgery was discovered.
Cooper recounted that on 13th February 2025, someone submitted a survey plan at the Ministry for the purpose of obtaining a building permit. In line with Ministry protocol, he cross-checked the LS number (313/25) against their internal database. It was revealed that the same LS number had already been issued to a different document belonging to Derrick A. Fullah for a property at Peninsula Road, York, covering 0.2034 acres and signed by licensed surveyor Hewith Jones.
Realizing the survey plan was falsified, Cooper alerted the Anti-Land Grabbing Unit at the OSD headquarters. The alleged landowner, Mr. Jawara, identified Mohamed Bah as the person who prepared and signed the fake document.
The witness confirmed he could identify the document in question and referred to it as Exhibit Z. He further noted that the LS number was fraudulently used, and requested time to present the authentic, original survey document in court.
The prosecutor subsequently requested a short adjournment for the original document to be produced.
Defense counsel I. Turay Esq. applied for bail on behalf of the accused. However, Magistrate Fornah denied the application, citing the seriousness of the charges. The matter was adjourned to 19th June 2025.