BY: HAJA HAWA KOROMA
As the Dr. Samura Kamara versus ACC matter in the High Court No1 unfolds, the cross examination of the Prosecution Witness PW1 continues.
One of the Defense Counsel Ady Macaulay, among 14 other legal counsel for the 4th accuse Dr Samura Wilson Kamara engages in a cross examination with the prosecution witness Joseph Bockarie Noah. The prosecution witness who serves as the chief investigating officer in this matter was cross examined for the clarification of some of the statements, exhibits and other forms of evidence that were brought before the court.
In the opening of the cross examination, defense counsel Ady Macauley asks the PW1 if he recalls telling the court during the course of the examination that there was a memorandum from the then Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Paul Mena now the Deputy Ambassador to Turkey that he sent a memo to the donors (the Chinese) to direct the payment of the money committed into a private account named Ethic Sierra Limited.
The pw1 stated that they conducted their investigations courtesy of a memo whereby Mr. Paul Mena instructed Ethic Sierra for the transfer of the money to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The defense counsel asked the PW1 whether he was the one that took Dr. Alie kabba’s statement during the course of the investigation and the PW1 stated that he was not fully involved in the statements taken from Dr. Alie Kabba as he was not present entirely during the period the statement was being delivered by Dr. Alie Kabba, but he confirmed that he read his statement.
Ady Macauley further asks the PW1 whether he recalls Dr. Alie Kabba in his statements to the ACC that he gave instructions to the then Director General of the Foreign Affairs by way of memo direct the Chinese to pay the committed funds for the renovation to a private company called Ethic Sierra.
The PW1 confirms that Dr Alie Kabba issued a statement to the ACC but does not recall this particular statement that the defense counsel is asking about.
The defense counsel mentioned exhibit AY 1-73 PAGE 27 LINE 17, the exhibit states that the then Director General Paul A S Mena was directed to provide the account information BY Alie Kabba the reason was to eliminate the bilateral partner indirectly dealing with the transfer of this amount, in other words it was Dr Alie Kabba that gave out the instructions to the then Director General to write out to the donor. And the sum of 1 million dollar was paid into the Ethic Sierra account.
The defense council stated that Dr. Alie Kabba was in fact relatives with some of the Directors of the Ethic Sierra Board, he then asks the witness if in the course of the ACC’s investigations whether they requested for the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Ethic Sierra Limited. The witness said that what he recalls during the course of the investigation was that a notice was sent to the Chief Executive Officer of the Cooperate Affairs Commission relating to relevant business documents of Ethic Sierra Limited.
One of the allegations levied against the 4th accuse Dr. Samura Kamara by the ACC was the misappropriation of public funds. It is said that he misappropriated the sum of 2 million five hundred and 60 thousand dollars for the chancery building in the United States, the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Finance was said to have provided the funds.
The defense counsel cited exhibit D1-58 PAGE 10 the caution statement of Dr. Samura Kamara. He also mentioned that the PW1 made mention of written submissions marked as IRN/MS/001 by the 4th accused, when a document has IRN on it that means the ACC has custody of it, the defense asks the witness and he responded with a yes.
The said document which was turned into exhibit A Z 1-2 is a statement made by the 4th accused Dr. Samura which states that the funds of the renovation of the Chancery Building were donated by the Chinese. He also said in his statement that the sum of 2million dollars was donated by the Chinese and the funds had been transferred to the consolidated revenue fund in line with the public financial managing rules and regulations.
These and some other Exhibits were mentioned by the defense counsel Ady Macauley of the fourth accuse in disputing some of the claims levied on the 4th accuse and some of the statements made by the witness in his cross examination in order to contradict the witnesses investigations, the matter has been adjourned to Thursday 24th march 2022.
