By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Opposition Member of Parliament, Mohamed Bangura has vowed to fight the recommendations of the White Paper that directly affects him. He said his lawyers are currently planning to launch an appeal against two recommendations in the paper.
Bangura, who was Minister of Information under the All Peoples Congress administration, was ordered to pay US$ 194,363 to the state which he allegedly collected from the International Gateway Fund that was under the National Telecommunication Commission (NATCOM).
“I am ready to challenge that report, my lawyer is already gathering the papers. It is just unjust; I have been convicted without any single evidence,” he told Politico.
“The Permanent Secretary who gave testimony that he gave me money up to US$194,000, he did not present a single document. Just by oral witness and that was why my lawyer at the time asked for evidential document, because the issue is about money,” Bangura added.
Bangura was in charge of the Ministry from April 2016 to October 2017, according to COI records.
The White Paper wholesomely adopted the recommendations of Justice Bankole Thompson who presided over the case. According to the document, “Government notes the commission’s finding on Mohamed Bangura who was the former Minister of Information and Communication that his conduct among other things was deceitful and fraudulent. That payment due and owing to the Ministry by NATCOM to the tune of US$ 194,363.12 were made to the said Minister under the guise of attending ICT Conferences overseas.”
“The commission did not find his testimony credible in rebutting the testimonies of the state witnesses and therefore culpable for unjust enrichment,” it later added.
Bangura was the first former Minister in the Koroma administration to personally appear in front of the commission. During testimonies last year, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, Paul Sandy and the Accountant, Donald Newman both said they gave Mr Bangura the money in three different instalments as per diem for the said conferences.
They said upon his orders they gave him, US$44,000, US$50,000 and $100,000. All the monies were withdrawn from Zenith Bank and FIB.
Documents from the Technical Audit Report which was done by government and presented at the COI by the State Counsel, Robert Kowa, showed that the monies were withdrawn from October 2016 to February 2017.
10% of the Gateway funds from NATCOM are supposed to go to the Ministry. Bangura himself said during his testimony that the money was meant to be used for travelling and other expenses around the office.
He has always denied receiving any money from the Permanent Secretary and the Accountant.
When Bangura was asked then why he thought the two men would claim he received the money, he replied, saying: “I believe they said so to save their necks.”
The Technical Audit also stated that Bangura received Le25 million from NATCOM as a “Goodbye token” when he was sacked in 2017, a claim he said wasn’t true because it was not the policy directive for NATCOM to dish out money to former ministers.
But this was not the only mention of Bangura’s name in the report. Another section in the report states that he should be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for “false declaration”.
According to the report, he claimed that he had US$ 288,000 in his HFC Bank Account 21042022017 and filled that information in his asset declaration form to the ACC.
When asked about it, Bangura said it must have been a mix up but he doesn’t recall making any such declaration to the commission.
“I have already contacted the Anti-Corruption Commission for clarification because for me I did not remember that I write that,” Bangura said on Tuesday.
On Thursday the ACC informed Politico that they have launched an investigation into Mohamed Bangura and a host of others following the release of the report.
ACC’s Director of Public Education and External Outreach, Patrick Sandy, said: “Definitely this is one of the many cases we are investigating following the release of the White Paper.”
Sandy said since this concerns asset declaration, the investigation might be swift because they will go to their archives and check the facts.
Unlike the first recommendation by the White Paper, if Bangura is found guilty of fraudulent declaration, he could be fined nothing less than Le20 million and/or spend two years in jail depending on the discretion of judge, according to the ACC Act.
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