Ms. Carlton-Hanciles is not impressed with efforts by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Criminal Investigations Department of the Police in ensuring the workers get their salaries since the matter was reported to the Legal Aid Board by fifteen workers of the company on 10 October 2017.
‘It is nearly a month since this matter was reported to us, since then the workers have not been paid despite efforts by the Board to ensure this is done, what’s more the Criminal Investigations Department in Freetown has not brought charges against Umaru Deen Sesay despite the weight of evidence against him,’ she said, adding: ‘We want to ensure the 149 employees get what is owed them in salary and benefits before settling any other liabilities of the company. What we have seen in the past is the Human Resource Manager selling off assets without any recourse to procedure. We have decided to act now to ensure, henceforth any money that is accrued from the sale of company assets goes to our clients.’
The staff of MSF Engenharia and their Lawyer from the Legal Aid Board, Kabba Sei Coomber met with Umaru Deen Sesay on Wednesday, November 6 at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The meeting was hosted by the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Security and the Permanent Secretary.
A number of decisions were taken to protect the interest of the workers. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security should do a letter to the Corporate Affairs Commission to find out about the legal status of the company and also request for a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The Ministry should also do a letter to one of the representatives of the company now in Portugal, One Antonio Bughalo to provide a list of company assets prior to the suspension of operations and confirm whether they had authorized the sale of assets to settle liabilities.
The Ministry ordered Umaru Deen Sesay to produce bank statements for all the accounts run by the company.
The Ministry will meet with the Legal Aid Board on Wednesday to draw up a timetable for visits to company sites to do an independent inventory of company assets.
