By Saio Marrah
The fifth witness in the ongoing audit tribunal set up to investigate the alleged misconduct of Sierra Leone’s suspended Auditor General, Lara Taylor- Pearce and her deputy Tamba Momoh has said that Momoh was seen working for a private auditing company during official working time.
Led in evidence by Lawyer Ahmed J. Bockarie, Augustin Siaka who works as credit and marketing officer for Apex Bank’s three community outfits in Kamakwie, Karene District in northern Sierra Leone told the tribunal that even though the bank has its internal auditing unit, there was also an external auditing company, LKG which was being contracted by Apex Bank to audit its 17 community banks.
According to him, the auditing exercises were being conducted by a team of auditors led by Tamba Momoh, who the witness said personally informed him that he (Tamba Momoh) was employed by Audit Service Sierra Leone. The witness further noted that documents also showed that Momoh was working for Audit Service Sierra Leone by then.
The witness said Momoh signed and received money on behalf of LKG on three occasions in his presence and added that Momoh and his team usually went to the Kamakwie community during official working days. According to him, Momoh would mostly spend two to three days conducting the auditing exercise with the bank picking up their accommodation bills.
Under cross-examination, the witness said that Momoh would normally lead an auditing team of three men and that before the commencement of the auditing exercise, the team would hold a meeting with the senior management of the bank, of which the witness said he was a part. He noted that the auditing exercises were conducted between the year 2019 and 2020.
The witness also told the tribunal that the address of LKG auditing company was in the United Kingdom with a local contact number in Sierra Leone and an email account.
According to the witness, Momoh is a member of the company because he always signs for the company while issuing receipts.
Responding to lead defence lawyer Pa Momoh Fofanah, who represents Tamba Momoh on the name of Patrick Jusu being listed on the document, the witness insisted that he did not know another partner. He said he knew Deputy Auditor General Tamba Momoh, who he said always collected money and led the auditing team on behalf of the company.
According to Pa Momoh Fofanah: “the witness is saying that my client signed on the document, but the document shows someone else…” Asked to describe Momoh the witness said Momoh is fair in complexion, but that description was refuted by the defence.
The witness however admitted that he could not tell if Momoh’s name was in one of the documents used during the auditing process at the Kamakwie branch and that he had not seen any document prepared by Tamba Momoh.
He also agreed that he could not tell whether Momoh signed any document but cited a letter from Apex head office informing the staff at the Kamakwie branch that Momoh and his team were on their way for the auditing process.
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