By Mohamed Foday Conteh
The Sierra Leone Maritime Administration’s (SLMA) Executive Director, Paul Sobba Massaquoi and 5 other accused in the persons of Peter Joseph Menjor (Acting Director of Procurement), Fodie U.K Dabor (Acting Director of Finance), Hartwell Williams (Quality and Assurance Manager), Victor Alpha (Human Resource Manager) and Festus Musa (Procurement Supervisor) were arraigned in Court 5 Counts of corruption charges.
The charges include Conspiracy to Commit a Corrupt Offence, Failure to Comply with Applicable Procurement Procedures and Guidelines, Abuse of Office and Knowingly Misleading the ACC among others.
On the first count charge, all six men on diverse dates ranging from December 2020 to May 2021 allegedly conspired with persons unknown to conduct an improper procurement process with respect to the rehabilitation of the SLMA office.
The Prosecution also alleged that Massaquoi, Menjor, Dabor, Williams and Alpha between dates ranging from December 2020 to May 2020 failed to comply with the applicable procurement procedures with regards to the same renovation of the said SLMA Headquarter.
The Executive Director, on a separate charge, is accused of abuse of his office by failing to follow due process to the awarding of a contract to a construction company and thus failing to comply with due process.
Five of the accused persons were also accused of knowingly misleading the ACC between February and March 2021 by giving false statements over the procurement process in relation to the renovation of the said office.
Also, Menjor, the 2nd accused is alleged to have misled the ACC knowingly between 16th February and 26th March 2021 when he gave false statements by saying that a due procurement process according to law was conducted for the renovation of the office.
All the accused persons said that they were not guilty of the allegations for which they were being indicted.
The prosecution counsel, upon opening their argument, cited a document dated 31st May 2021 that was filed under the hand of the ACC Commissioner pursuant to section 89(1) of ACC Act of 2008 authorizing the prosecution of the 6 accused persons. He said that it is based on this that the 6 accused persons are arraigned before Justice Bawoh. He further went on to state that it was through an application to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice that a trial by a single judge was made preferable to a trial by a judge and jury. He added that this will expedite the process for justice to be administered.
After the counsels for the accused have represented their clients, the Prosecution Counsel proposed to the judge that the matter be adjourned for the 17th June 2021. The ACC counsel said that the rationale for the adjournment was to allow the defense counsel to do a necessary perusal of the said offences and other relevant issues.
All of the defense counsels applied for bail citing that their clients are individuals on whom their families depend on. They further went on to state that their clients are not at flight risk since their addresses are known and that they are willing to attend court whenever they are called upon. Counsels for the accused then hinged their bail application pursuant to section 79(2) of the Criminal Act No.32 of 1965 and Constitutional Instrument No.63 of 2018 with particular emphasis on section 5 together with other legal provisions.
Mansaray represented accused persons 1 and 4, A. Kamara was for the 2nd accused, Jengo represented the 3rd accused, D. Nabieu was for the 5th accused person and Gevao represented the 6th accused person respectively.
The court was filled to capacity with relatives of the accused persons, legal practitioners and the press. However, the place went dead silent when the trial began save a couple of moments when the ringing tunes of some relatives interrupted the decorum.
The judge, after deliberation with the defense counsels agreed on the adjournment put forth by the prosecuting counsel. The men were granted bail. The matter was adjourned to 17th June, 2021.
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