The former Administrative Officer of Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB) Mustapha O.B. Sillah, testified at the Commission of Inquiry before Bankole Thompson on cash withdrawals in his name. He made this testimony on Wednesday 7th August 2019. In his testimony, Sillah said he was instructed by the Managing Director of SALCAB, Mohamed Sherriff, and the Chair of the Board of Directors, Idrissa Yillah, to make two withdrawals from the Institution’s account. He said the first withdrawal against his name was Le1,606,996,942. The second sum was Le2,260,097. He said he was told to en-cash the cheques and disburse the cash to institutions and people including Mohamed Sherriff and Idrissa Yillah.
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He also revealed that in 2015, the Managing Director, Mohamed Sherriff, sent him to go and en-cash a $15,000 USD and $10,000 USD cheque. He testified that he used to keep the cheque book and the cheques in his name because he was instructed by the Managing Director Mohamed Sherriff and Chair of the Board of Director, Idrissa Yillah, to do so. However, he was not a signatory to the account. The Administrative Officer testified that when the Forensic and Technical Auditors interviewed him, they asked me of documents for this money. He said that he wrote other people’s names on cheques such as, Abdul Rahman Wurie, Chief Technology Officer of SALCAB, and John Bosco Mando on the instruction of the Managing Director and Chair of the Board of Directors. In cross-examination of the witness by lawyer Ady Macauley, he said he left SALCAB in November 2018 and remains unemployed. He said that he was sacked due to an allegation that he sent documents and information to former SALCAB Managing Director, Sherriff. He said Mohamed Sherriff and Idrissa Yillah told him the money he withdrew was for workshops, sensitizations, schools, colleges and universities and also flood victims. He said that he could not recall if SALCAB organized any sensitization workshops. He said it was not his duty to prepare payment vouchers but that of the finance department. He said Freetown Nominees Limited handled the finance and accounting of SALCAB. He said the Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSAs) were paid to the department that wants to travel. They will request through a memorandum that they want to travel internally or externally. The request will come to the Administrative Officer and he will process it by getting the right people to sign and the monies will be given by the finance department. He said the Managing Director Mohamed Sherriff and the Chair of the Board of Directors Idrissa Yillah would sign cheques.
DT/7/8/19
By David Thoronka
Thursday August 08, 2019.
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