By Ruth Yeabu Sesay
The Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC) has pver the last three years recovered 5 billion Leones through fines levied against persons found culpable by the commission’s Court.
The Judiciary in a press release this week said the ACC court the first in the region specializing in Anti –Corruption cases, processed forty-seven cases in 2021, completing twenty-four of them.
Twenty-seven persons were found guilty and were ordered to pay fines that went into the Consolidated Fund.
So far, five billion, three hundred and fifty-eight million, four hundred and ninety-two Leones old Leones (5, 338, 492, 000, and 000.00) were generated from fines collected.
The Public Education and External Outreach Coordinator at ACC, Patrick Sandi told Politico that the court was established to expedite the trial of corruption cases because of the delay in the normal courts.
He said cases can now be tried without delay and this has helped to dispense justice quickly.
He stated that since the court was established, corruption matters do not exceed two years in contrast to previous years when cases took three to four years to complete.
Sandi said “the 22 remaining cases are still in court because of some issues and because people might have appealed the matter”.
He said that “in terms of infrastructure the court is only in Freetown but in terms of the architecture of the Judiciary they still have their divisions in the Provinces” because there are prosecutors and Police Officers who ensures that defaulters are prosecuted for these cases.
He stated that the monies that have been recovered will not go to the Judiciary as it is meant for the consolidated fund.
He made it clear that they have been working with the Judiciary to ensure that the public is well -informed about the activities of the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Copyright © 2022 Politico (16/12/22)
