By: Audrey Raymonda John
Jusu Syrill, a complainant in an ongoing preliminary investigation involving 52 counts of larceny by servant, forgery, and uttering forged documents, has testified that a staff member at Zenith Bank allegedly aided the accused, Umaru Kargbo (29), in forging his (Syrill’s) signature to unlawfully withdraw funds from his company’s bank accounts.
Syrill, the first prosecution witness, continued his testimony on Friday, August 1, 2025, before Principal Magistrate Mustapha Braima-Jah at the Pademba Road Magistrate Court in Freetown.
He previously informed the court that Kargbo was a friend he had employed as the manager of his business, Sabaoth Construction and General Merchandise, located at Immat, Freetown. Both Syrill, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, and the accused were signatories to the company’s Leone and Dollar accounts at Zenith Bank.
The witness testified that he used to receive mobile alert messages regarding account transactions but noticed they stopped coming. In early November 2024, he visited the Zenith Bank branch on Rawdon Street, Freetown, to check the status of the accounts. There, he discovered that Le292,800 (two hundred and ninety-two thousand, eight hundred Leones) had been withdrawn from the Leone account, and $4,500 (four thousand five hundred US Dollars) from the Dollar account without his authorization.
Syrill said he immediately contacted the accused’s mother, asking her to bring all documents bearing Kargbo’s signature. “I also wrote a letter to the accused for him to confirm in writing that he was a signatory to the company’s accounts,” Syrill stated.
Following that, the accused’s mother provided documents signed by Kargbo. Syrill reported the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters in Freetown.
According to the witness, Kargbo and his mother made several promises between December 2024 and May 2025 to repay the stolen funds, but they failed to do so.
In February 2025, the accused allegedly sent Syrill a text message confessing to the crime and identifying a Zenith Bank staff member who had assisted him in forging the signature and executing the fraudulent withdrawals. Syrill told the court that the SMS detailed how the accused carried out the act and named the individual in the bank who helped him.
The witness tendered his Samsung Fold 5 mobile phone, which he said contained the incriminating message, and added that he had printed out the message for evidence.
The matter was adjourned to August 7, 2025.
According to the charge sheet, the first count of larceny by servant alleges that between Tuesday, April 2 and Friday, November 29, 2024, at Zenith Bank, Rawdon Street, Freetown, the accused, in his capacity as manager of Sabaoth Construction and General Merchandise, stole Le292,800 from the company’s bank account.