Medical and Dental Council Secretary in court
March 3, 2017 By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
Former Secretary of the Medical and Dental Council of Sierra Leone is currently before the High Court presided over by Justice John Bosco-Allieu for the offence of larceny, embezzlement and forgery by servant.
The accused; Avril Paris, is in court on 19 count charges ranging from larceny by servant, forgery, uttering of false documents to embezzlement, contrary to the laws of Sierra Leone.
State prosecutor, lawyer Cecelia Bull, alleges that the accused in December, 2016, embezzled millions of Leones belonging to the council.
In his testimony on Wednesday, 2nd March, 2017, Dr. Abdul Wahab Labie, who introduced himself as a medical doctor, told the court that he recognised the accused and recalled the 5th of January, 2016.
He said on the above date, he went to the Medical and Dental Council in Freetown to renew his medical certificate, and that during the process of meeting the council’s Registrar, he was directed to an office where he met the accused and told her that he wanted to renew his certificate.
“I told her that I have been out of the country for many years and that I have to pay for all those years that I have been away. She calculated the money and gave me the total amount that I was supposed to pay,” he said.
He continued that the accused later took out a receipt book with the Medical and Dental Council logo on it and asked him to pay the money to her, which he did with a receipt issued to him.
He informed the court that he was calling the accused several weeks after the payment was made, but she was not picking her calls and that when he eventually went to the council to collect his certificate, he met with one Dr. Thorpe; Registrar General of the Council and explained everything to him.
“After several checks, Dr. Thorpe told me that my name is not on the list and that they were not aware of his payment,” he stated and added that during that time, he was shown a document, indicating that over Le40 million belonging to the council had got missing.
Matter continues in the High Court.