The ACC reportedly stormed the Fawaz Building Materials at 18 Charlotte Street and the TPMS offices at 19 Liverpool Street in Freetown, where loads of documents were confiscated.
Reports say there was a standoff when the ACC demanded that Hamid Fawaz’s safe be opened and the ACC even insisted on arresting the entire staff if the safe was not opened. After an 8 hour standoff, the safe was eventually opened and a pile of business records and documents were recovered and taken to the ACC headquarters.
It is yet unclear where this will lead, but the no-nonsense ACC investigators seemed to know exactly what they wanted and went for it without compromise, armed with a search warrant signed by the ACC Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala.
It could be recalled that Mr. Abdul Hamid Hajj Fawaz, a popular Sierra Leone national of Lebanese origin and business guru and owner of the famous Fawaz Building Materials (FBM) in Freetown, was named in an alleged $21 million racket involving the Yoni Farm Project.
According to reports, Mr. Fawaz allegedly connived with one British citizen Robert McKenderick to divert over sixteen million nine hundred thousand Pounds Sterling (£16,900,000,) that was meant for the rice project at Yoni Farm into private pockets.
However, after a series of media reports on the matter, Mr. Abdul Hamid Fawaz responded to the allegations by telling his own side to the story behind the Yoni Farm Project. He denied any form of corrupt practice.
Investigations continue.
