By Saio Marrah
A Prosecution Witness at a Magistrate Court in Freetown has testified that the first accused, Mohamed Arafat S. Munda, in an ongoing alleged bank fraud at the Rokel Commercial Bank, did tamper with the bank account of a deceased, Musa Kanteh.
Munda is incriminated along with two others, 32-year-old Mohamed Munda Tarleh who is an agent of Rokel Commercial Bank SIM Korpor Mobile Application System, and 30-year-old Businessman, Edison Brima Mohamed as the second and third accused persons respectively.
The Prosecution Witness one (PW1), Bank Manager, Alpha Barrie at the bank’s branch in Bo was testifying before Magistrate Mark Ngegba at Court No.1 on Thursday 28th September 2023.
According to PW1, findings from an investigation conducted by the bank indicated that the customer service officer of the bank, Munda tampered with the account of the deceased.
Led in by Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ishmeal S. Mansaray, PW1 described the 27-year-old first accused as a banker working as customer service officer at the Bank in Bo.
According to him, the duties of the first accused range from attending to customer affairs to opening accounts for customers among others. He also described the second accused, Mohamed Munda Tarleh, as an agent of the bank operating the SIM Korpor mobile application. He said the 32-year-old second accused also attends to customers of the bank.
PW1 said he knew the 30-year-old third accused, Edison Brima Mohamed, through the second accused, and would sometimes meet him at the desk of the second accused.
PW1 said on the 18th of August this year, he received information from the head of the customer unit, of the bank that there had been interference with an account belonging to a deceased.
From that point, he said as the manager, he went to the community of the account owner, Kanteh, where he was informed that the owner had died.
He further informed the Court that from that moment, the bank conducted an internal investigation on the issue and that the findings revealed that the first accused had been tampering with the account.
The three accused face 19 counts of conspiracy to defraud, larceny by a servant, and causing money to be paid to another with intent to defraud.
The court learned that between the 11th of April and the 18th of August 2023, they conspired to withdraw two hundred and seventy-five thousand New Leones (Nle 275,000) from the account of the deceased pretending to be the deceased.
The first and second accused were alleged to have also stolen sixteen thousand two hundred and ninety-five New Leones (Nle 16,295) from the same account.
The three men were, however, released on bail with Nle 500,000, each, and one surety each with Nle 150,000 worth of properties either in Freetown or Bo. This was after Lawyer Hindolo Moiwo Gavao applied for their bail.
The three first appeared before Magistrate Mark Ngegba at the Pademba Road Court No.1 on Monday 25th September this year and were sent on remand.
The case resumes on the 9th of October this year.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/09/23)
