On Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th August 2019, the former Chair of the Board of Directors of Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB), Idrissa Yillah, appeared before Bankole Thompson of the Commission of Inquiry to testify to money he authorized for various people working for the company. He said he was mandated with the Managing Director, Mohamed Sherriff, to run the day-to-day operations and management of SALCAB. He also confirmed that he was a signatory to the company’s account and was part of the decision makers of it. He said he authorized the cash transfer of Le1,485,000. According to state counsel R.B. Kowa, the auditors reports revealed that the cash transfer made did not indicate recipients. Yillah responded by saying that the auditors did not give him the opportunity to contribute to their report
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He said some of the consortium–monies paid were part of SALCAB’s financial obligations for membership to the ACE, which is connected to the submarine cables called Africa Coast to Europe (ACE). He said these payments are for maintenance and operational costs of the submarine cables. He revealed that before SALCAB disbursed the funds, they receive invoices and the payment will be done by swift transfer to the ACE headquarters in France. Yillah further testified that they received from Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank $382,971 USD from SALCAB account. These monies he said are for his salaries, benefits, allowances, DSAs for various conferences, meetings and seminars. He further revealed that the past management of SALCAB has submitted a comprehensive financial breakdown in spreadsheet form on these costs to the Parliamentary Accounting Committee. These spreadsheets were tendered as evidence to the Commission. When asked about the Le2,260,397,000, which the Administrative Officer, Mustapha Sillah en-cashed on his instructions, he said that he would have to see Sillah’s statement to answer these questions. He said Sillah was responsible for the petty cash disbursement at SALCAB. He also controls the cashing of cheques written to staff for internal and external field trips. He said SALCAB has ADM sites all over the country through the land fibre optics cable. All these payments are prepared by the finance department for fuel for official vehicles, DSAs for officials and other staff. These cheques are signed by the Managing Director Mohamed Sherriff and the Chair of the Board, Idrissa Yillah. He was asked about the untraced funds of Le1,145,385,000. He said that the money was for fuel for site inspections and addressing other issues on the site stations. He said they have agreements to buy bulk fuel from National Petroleum when there is a request from the landing stations, the station managers will request. He said they gave Le25 million to former Minister of Information and Communication, Mohamed Bangura, as a farewell gift. He said there was another cash transfer to the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Cornelius Deveaux. He said there was a request to pay Deveaux DSA for a trip abroad. He said they disbursed Le431,250,000 to the Parliamentary Oversight Committee Chair on Information and Communication, Hon. Binneh Bangura. He said that they gave Le1,897,965,000 to government institutions, individuals and private organizations, among which was the resuscitated Daily Mail. He said Le150,450,000 was given towards that project of the Daily Mail in 2016. When asked why he was disbursing monies to people who should not benefit from them. He said that the monies that were disbursed were discussed and approved by the SALCAB management. Also, some of the payments were done through the request of other institutions and individuals like the Bar Association. He responded that there was a draft document policy for the disbursement of finances at SALCAB to institutions or organizations. He denied the assertion that SALCAB operated without a proper functioning board. He also denied that the former president took over the operations and management of SALCAB. The matter was adjourned for cross-examination to 14 August 2019.
DT/8/8/19
By David Thoronka
Friday August 09, 2019.
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