By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has called on journalists and Civil Society activists in the Eastern region to help the commission in the fight against corruption.
The Deputy Director of Public Education and Outreach, Alhassan Kargbo made the call during a visit to Kenema on Tuesday. Kargbo said the role of CSOs and the media is integral considering their interface with the public.
“The fight against corruption will not make impact without the participation and propagation of CSO and Media to disseminate the work of the ACC,” he said.
Kargbo said the commission depended on the media and CSOs to help their work in the fight against corruption.
ACC officials also used the occasion to give a quarterly update about the work they are doing as a commission.
One of the most high-profile cases the ACC has been involved with in recent weeks is the allegation against the Chief Minister, Professor David Francis.
Assistant Public Relations Officer of the ACC, Success Sei Kamara, said they had investigated the issue regarding allegations against the Chief Minister and found that there was nothing so far about it.
He said: “Chief Minister called on ACC for an investigation and the commission demanded from Eco-Bank to make available any transaction with regard to that matter.”
He added: “No evidence was found of any monetary transaction on the allegations levied against the Chief Minister. Chief Minister has no account at ECO-Bank and the transaction card has not done any monetary deal with the bank.”
ACC officials at the meeting in Kenema said they had already recovered Le18 billion as repayments to the state for corruption offences in the last two years.
They also gave updates about several other cases. The update included the current status of the case and the circumstances surrounding the charges they levied against the individuals involved.
Just a day after the engagement, the ACC headquarters in Freetown announced in a press release the indictment of three High Court officials in Kenema, including the Registrar, for allegedly embezzling more than Le59 million in court fines.
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