By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
The suspended President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Isha Johansen, has been cleared of all corruption charges by the High Court of Sierra Leone.
The court presided over by Justice Reginald Fynn announced the verdict on Monday. Suspended Secretary General of SLFA Chris Kamara was also acquitted. Both Johansen and Kamara were on trial on three count charges on corruption related offences, a case which was brought against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The two were arraigned before the High Court on 11 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conspiracy to commit a corruption offence involving over US$60,000. Part of this money was remitted to the SLFA account by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for an MRI testing procedure and other ancillary matters. They were represented by counsels Aminata Sillah and Ibrahim Koroma.
The ruling brought to an end nearly two years of legal battles between the prosecution and defense and perhaps more than six years of impasse in football in the country.
The case has divided opinions in the football community at home and abroad.
Whilst the trial was in progress, a ruling was handed down on 15th October 2015 following a no-case submission, resulting into the nullification of eight counts, leaving the defendants to grapple with the three counts of misappropriation of public funds and conspiracy to commit a corruption offence.
The remaining three counts relates to US$50, 000 remitted into SLFA account by Caf, a Le24, 750, 000 donated by the cement manufacturer, LEOCEM, and a US$10, 000 loan raised by the FA itself to fund its operational expenses.
Details of the judgement seen by Politico indicate that the loan was raised owing to the dire financial circumstances SLFA faced at the time.
The prosecution witness, Jonathan Leigh, the judge disclosed, confirmed the evidence of financial difficulties that hit SLFA at the time, adding that the witness is a truthful one. Justice Fynn based his judgment on the evidence adduced by the prosecution and the defense with particular references to the testimonies of the witnesses. He explained that for the key ingredient for the offence of misappropriation of public funds to stand, the prosecution must show that the appropriation was ‘dishonest’, quoting several legal authorities.
“The offence of misappropriation of public funds to hold money should be taken unlawfully and applied to an unlawful purpose, but it is not misappropriation if the money is taken unlawfully and applied to a lawful purpose,” the judge said.
The evidence, Justice Fynn went on, indicates that in the audit reports tendered in evidence by Walker and Associates, SLFA scored a pass in all FIFA parameters.
On the third count of conspiracy, the Judge based his legal analysis on the common law principle which says there must be an agreement between the conspirators and that the prosecution also bears the ‘legal burden’ of proving such agreement. The offence of conspiracy is badly charged, leaving much room for doubt, he declared.
“I would have granted leave for an amendment of the charge under the criminal procedure Act had the prosecution requested for it,” he said.
Although the judge maintained that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against the two defendants “beyond a reasonable doubt,” he upheld the prosecution evidence that no MRI test was done, apart from the expenditure SLFA incurred on other affairs. The judge was of the conviction that the defendants had the opportunity to contact CAF for the MRI result and challenged the prosecution in court. As a result, the judgment upheld that the defendants had been “shamelessly untrue” and noted that the act undermined their credibility.
“However, failure to carry out the MRI test by the defendants did not amount to dishonest appropriation,” he added.
Similarly, Justice Fynn also disclosed that none of the witnesses wavered in their lack of knowledge over the loan raised by SLFA to run the organization in the face of shortage of funds.
Owing to the aforementioned analysis, the Judge concluded that the prosecution’s case was “fatally undermined” and that the conspiracy charge must also “succumb to the same fate”. He resolved the doubt of the case in favor of the two defendants by acquitting and discharging both.
The application by defense counsel to return all documents, including travelling documents of the accused, was also upheld by the judge who appealed to the ACC not to relent in sending their matters to the court because of the outcome of this case.
The indictment of the two officials sparked controversy and strained relationship between FIFA and the government. The former accused the latter of interference, against a widely respected policy of the football governing body. But ACC took a stand that Johansen and Kamara must be set aside in accordance with the 2008 ACC Act.
In response, FIFA suspended Sierra Leone from taking part in all sporting activities.
On Monday football fans and journalists crammed in the court room and waited eagerly for the final verdict on the case. They then burst in to a very loud cheer in support of the accused following the announcement of the verdict.
In a press release on Monday evening, the ACC say both Johansen and Kamara can now be reinstated in their positions in the FA.
“The commission wishes to reaffirm its position that a public official standing trial has to be suspended until the end of the trial. Since in this case the trial has now ended, Madam Johansen and Mr Kamara will henceforth continue to serve as President and Secretary General respectively of the SLFA going forward without any interference or hindrance from the ACC,” the statement reads.
Isha Johansen, Chris Kamara or the SLFA have not come out since with a statement, but the ruling means there is now a dark cloud hanging over the ongoing premier league in the country.
(c) 2019 Politico Online
