By Mabinty M. Kamara
A Norwegian mining engineer, Morlen Tronstad has called on the Sierra Leone authorities to help him “get justice” in a case he described as “a scam” involving a Norwegian mining company and their local counterparts operating in the country.
Speaking at a press conference held in Freetown, Tronstad explained that he saw an advertisement in a Norwegian Newspaper, the Financial Times for an investment opportunity in a mining company named Bravura with a subsidiary in Sierra Leone. He said the call was for the company to expand to largescale mining.
He said he decided to invest in the company for which he deposited $ 1.3 million into the company’s account in Oslo giving him 35% shares in the company.
He said he later arrived in Sierra Leone around mid-October last year only to realize that the company was operating on a small-scale gold mining in Salema village in Penguia chiefdom in Kailahun District with no license to expand and with another company mining in the same concession area. He said he was told they were trying to secure a large-scale mining license for a larger concession area.
Tronstard added that from engagements with locals in the community, he came to know that another company dubbed Majestic owned a large scale concession in the area.
He said he then started realizing that he had been lied to, hence he started being more critical.
He said he then requested to opt out of the company so that his investment could be reimbursed, something he said was met with stiff resistance by his partners. He added that he then took his machines (two excavators and a dumper) to a safer place for which he alleged he was arrested by three Operational Support Division personnel who said they were ordered by a sitting Member of Parliament for constituency 013 in Kenema, Alusine Kanneh who also is a shareholder in the said Bravura company.
He alleged that he was manhandled by the police officer whom, he said, wanted to take his phone away from him. He said that he was constantly threatened with death but was later rescued by another police officer who saw them, and that he was subsequently taken to the Paramount Chief who freed him from the three officers and handed him back his cell phone.
“Later that same night, my colleagues on the Bravura team sent in the same [armed police officers) and tried to kidnap me to stop me from gathering more evidence. Once again, I managed to escape and was rescued by one of the Majestic drivers who took me to Grayma with the permission of his boss and locked me in a container to ensure I was safe,” he explained.
He said he was later taken to the police station where he made a statement and got a medical referral.
He commended the locals for their efforts to save his life and called on the government to ensure he got justice, saying that it was clear he was duped by his Norwegian brothers and not Sierra Leoneans. But he said that it was important that the government set a precedent so that other investors would feel safe with their monies when coming to Sierra Leone.
He said he had already hire lawyers in Sierra Leone and Norway to ensure justice.
The MP has vehemently denied the allegation saying he had never met the Norwegian nor did he know him, insisting that he did not know Tronstad. Speaking to Politoco, Alusine Kanneh denied instructing the police to arrest Tronstad. He agreed receiving machines from Noway but that they were sent by another Norwegian, who was his business partner.
A lawyer for the CEO of Bavura, Isaac John, said there was no wrongdoing to Tronstad. He said Bravura AS, which was registered in Norway where Tronstad owned shares, was different from Bravura SL, which is a subsidiary in Sierra Leone. He said Tronstad was in Sierra Leone working as an employee and that the machines he had taken out of the company’s site were owned by the company and not Tronstad.
The matter is before the courts in Oslo while Politico is in possession of several documents from both sides, which their editorial team are studying.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/03/23)
