By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Indicted staff of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), the Sierra National Shipping Company (SLNSC) and Ecobank Sierra Leone will spend their Christmas holiday in prison following an adjournment of their matter to 23 December.
The new date was set Tuesday 20 November by Justice M. A. Paul of the Freetown High Court after the defense lawyer had closed his case.
It followed an agreement by prosecution to submit a written submission on 13 December so the defense lawyers will reply a week later.
Before the date, a second defense witness, who happened to be the fifth accused, testified in court. Ecobank staff, Emmanuel Sesay said he was given a manager’s cheque in respect of an ADDAX cheque by his superior, Momoh Turay, “who instructed me to input it into the Maxim Company’s account”.
He said he carried out the instruction because Turay, who is also the fourth accused, was one of the heads at the operations department of the bank.
“The cheque was attached to a document that bore the NRA letterhead and it was signed by him, showing its approval”, second defense witness said.
under cross-examination by state prosecutor, Ade Macauley, the witness agreed with the prosecution that there was no document from ADDAX to show the cheque should be paid into a personal account.
He added that the transaction that resulted in the payment of the NRA cheque into the Maxim’s account was not a proper practice in the banking world “but it is accepted at Ecobank”.
He insisted that the transaction was not a diversion of funds “but a real transaction that is acceptable by the bank”.
Sesay also stated that the case was a special one as the cheque was accompanied by a letter of authority and not a deposit slip as would be in the case of other third party transactions.
Defense lawyers for the 1st, 2nd and 6th accused said they relied on their clients’ caution statements to prove their case.
Standing before court are Solomon Hindolo Katta, Idrissa Forna, Momoh Turay, Emmanuel Sesay and Catherine Katta. The third accused, Elizabeth King, is facing a separate trial, while the 7th accused, Santigie Kargbo is still at large.
(C) Politico 21/11/13
