Aruna Turay, AYV News, June 23, 2025
Director of Public Education and Outreach Department of Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Abubakarr Turay, has informed the AYV that the Commission has taken over from the Sierra Leone Police investigation of the matter involving some alleged fraudulent activities at the National Revenue Authority (NRA).
According to a press release from the NRA dated 20th June,2025, the fraudulent scheme involves the “collusion of certain staff with external actors-reportedly including commercial bank tellers and unpatriotic citizens, in a deliberate attempt to divert government revenue.”
The NRA went further in its press release that it “has lodged a formal report with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Sierra Leone Police.”
Abubakarr Turay said, “As you may know, this falls directly under the purview of the ACC, as it involves allegations of misappropriation of public revenue, which is contrary to section 36(1) and of the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008 as amended in 2019.”
He said the Commission had always taken severe measures, which are consistent with the Act, to protect public funds and ensure that funds are fully recovered where there are cases of misappropriation.
“This is how we were able to recover over 15 billion (old) leones from one such case last year,” he said. Mr Turay said the Commission is also recovering over 3 billion (old) leones in a matter involving the Freetown City Council and a commercial bank.
“Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala has an uncompromising stance when it comes to protecting public funds and property – by making sure that other serious consequences befall public and private officials involved in such schemes,” Mr Turay stated.
He referred to circumstances where some public officials lost their jobs and were further barred from holding public offices after such funds were recovered from them. He said, in one such case, an individual was also brought to court and convicted.
