Sierra Leone’s Court of Appeal Judge, Hon. Justice Reginald Fynn, yesterday 15th December, 2021 acquitted and discharged former Vice President, Victor Bockarie Foh, Abubakarr Carew and Ibrahim Fakeh of all corruption charges brought against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The Court also sentenced Sheka Kamara to 3 years imprisonment.
The former vice president along with two other senior officials were arraigned at the High Court on 8 counts of criminal related indictments ranging from Conspiracy to Commit a Corruption Offence to Misappropriation of Public Funds and Misleading the ACC Contrary to Law.
The matter of the defendants, Sheku Sahid Kamara, Victor Bockarie Foh, Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray (former Minister of Mines and Mineral Resource), Mohamed Alie Bah (former Minister of State VP’s Office), Ibrahim Fakeh Conteh and Abubakarr Carew was mentioned by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lead Prosecutor, Lawyer Calvin T. Mantsebo.
The Particulars on the Indictment state that the defendants on a date between 1st January and 30th September 2017 in Freetown, being Chairman, Supervisor, Secretary and Members to the Hajj Coordinating Committee of 2017, conspired together to engage and undertake a project without prior planning and also misappropriated the sum of Three Hundred Million Leones, funds donated to the Government of Sierra Leone for the benefit of Sierra Leoneans intending to perform the 2017 Hajj or Pilgrimage to Mecca.
It was also alleged that the first accused person, Sheku Sahid Kamara misled the ACC by making a statement that public funds to the tune of Sixty Thousand United State Dollars was handed over to the second defendant, Victor Foh, whilst in actual fact it was Eighty Thousand United States Dollars.