Boost For Anti-Corruption Commission

Two British judges and one investigator from the United Kingdom will arrive in shortly Freetown to assist the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) perform its work more expeditiously.

The disclosure came following President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's meeting at the Lodge this morning with Commissioner of the ACC, Mr. Val Collier, DFID consultant Toney Robey and a couple of other officials from the British Serious Fraud Office; Assistant Director Peter Kiernan and Principal Investigator Ms. Paige Rumble.

According to President Kabbah, who expressed his gratitude to the UK government, the expected three-man team would soon be looking exclusively at corruption-related offenses to enable the judiciary clear up the huge backlog of cases awaiting investigations and or trials. The President was hopeful that the advent of the experts would "help us heal the cancer of corruption" in the country.

He recalled his recent paper delivered at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London, in which he highlighted the invaluable role of the British Department for International Development (DFID) in providing the services of the judges.

However, he also noted his government's efforts aimed at addressing the problem of corruption and lauded what he referred to as "the first class job" the ACC's Sensitisation and Prevention Unit was doing by targeting schools and other relevant institutions across the country.

He reaffirmed his "confidence in the integrity of the ACC", but added that as with all newly established oversight institutions, there were bound to be "teething problems", which, he said, the government of UK had been helping to solve.

The Head of State went on to observe that with many corruption cases, investigations often take time, noting that the Sierra Leonean public, both at home and abroad, had been expressing strong views in that regard. He maintained that the public should not view this with alarm since such cases first require very careful investigations to allow for the establishment of a prima facie case for onward prompt prosecution.