By Ali Sahid Tunkara
An inquiry into the finances of Petroleum Directorate has shown that former Secretary to the President, Osho Coker ordered a bail out of $14million dollar for Rokel Commercial Bank, with the approval of former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
This revelation was made at the ongoing hearing at the Commissions Of Inquiry, which is presently looking at a $17million (Le158billion) loan agreement between the Petroleum Directorate and two other government institutions – the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and the Rokel Commercial Bank (RCB).
The interest- free loans were requested by the Ministry of Finance and the National Commission for Privatisation in February 2017. Documents in the Justice Biobele commission shows that the remaining $4million (Le32billion) was paid directly to SMRT company Ltd, an institution that was responsible for procuring biometric machines for the 2018 general elections.
One of the witnesses in Monday’s hearings, Zainu-Deen Karim, is the Finance Officer of the Petroleum Directorate. He said the moneys were disbursed by the directorate on the approval of former President Koroma through his secretary Osho Coker.
“The loan was transferred to the consolidated revenue fund by the Petroleum Directorate which was approved by the secretary to the President, Osho Coker,” Karim said.
The Petroleum Directorate which was established in 2012 directly reports to the Office of the President, through his secretary. This is not the first time they have come under scrutiny by the commission of inquiry.
Earlier this year the directorate also came under the spotlight by findings in the Technical Audit report by Audit Service Sierra Leone.
Karim said the loan totaling $17million dollars have not been repaid, despite agreement between them and the parties – NEC and RCB.
According to Karim, the US$3M loan was supposed to be paid back to the Directorate in equal quarterly installments of US$750,000 effective from January 2018.
“On to this day, the loan remains outstanding as nothing has been paid to the commission. The former Director- General has made great effort to recoup the loan by writing letters to the concerned institutions but no response has been made to pay back the money,” Karim said.
During the proceedings, Justice Biobele asked whether the directorate had any mandate to provide loans to other government institutions.
Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, who is representing the former President, said the 2011 Act that established the Directorate mentioned their responsibility to contribute to national budget and control.
In his testimony, Karim revealed that when he took office in July last year, he found out that the Directorate had Le40 billion which was held up in 15 separate bank accounts.
“Upon my assumption of office, the said sum was transferred to the Single Treasury Account set up by the government at the Bank of Sierra Leone. The said sum was withdrawn from the 15 accounts and paid to the consolidated fund at the Bank of Sierra Leone,” Karim said.
He added, “Out of the Le 40Bn held in different accounts, there was a foreign currency of US$892,574.”
The commission will continue its probe of the Directorate on Thursday.
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