…GTB marketer testifies
March 10, 2016 By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
Fatima Pearce, a marketer at the Guaranty Trust Bank Sierra Leone, yesterday testified at the Freetown High Court in an alleged US$800,000 fraud involving one Mohamed Osman Sesay.
The accused, Mohamed Osman Sesay, was charged to court by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to answer to eight counts of corruption offences ranging from conspiracy to commit corruption to deceiving, contrary to anti-graft laws.
ACC prosecutor Ade Macauley had alleged that the accused person conspired with other unknown persons to commit corruption offences contrary to section 128 of the Anti-Corruption Act of 2008.
He also alleged that on diverse dates between May and July 2015, being an agent, the accused conspired with unknown individuals to deceive one Mr. Dominic Anselm Joseph Beary, Director of Network Proximity Sierra Leone Limited, to pay the sum of US$100,000, purportedly as fees for an international gateway license.
The anti-graft prosecutor also contends that other monies were paid by Beary to the accused person for various purposes, adding that the accused person had intent to deceive, thus issued various letters to Beary, which he purported were signed by Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Alpha Kanu, his deputy, Theo Nicol, and the Director of Communication in the same ministry.
Other letters the accused sent to Beary, the prosecutor alleged, were also purportedly signed by chairman of the National Telecommunication Commission, Momoh Konte.
Testifying before Justice Miatta Samba, Ms. Pearce, who is the seventh prosecution witness, identified herself as an employee of the Guaranty Trust Bank, and that she knew the accused person. She recalled that the accused went to their bank on or around 27 July, 2014 accompanied by two others to establish a company account.
She said they created the account, with the accused and Dominic Anselm Joseph Beary as signatories, adding that she served as the account officer who monitored the account.
She said on 25 May, 2014 the sum of one US$110,270 was credited into the account by the complainant Dominic Anselm Joseph Beary, and that the accused withdrew the sum of US$10,000 and made an internal transfer of US$50,000 to one Mohamed Koroma.
Justice Samba had granted bail to the accused, Mohamed Osman Sesay, in the sum of Le4.5 billion, but was unable to meet the bail condition.
Thus, the bail condition was re-visited and reduced to Le2.5 billion, which the accused also failed to meet for the second time.
The matter continues.