By Saio Marrah
Apex Bank Branch Manager in Kenema, Foday M.A.S. Sesay, has appeared in a magistrate court in Freetown to answer to one count of embezzlement of one million one hundred and ninety thousand nine hundred and twenty-six new Leones and twenty-five cent (NLe 1,190, 926.25), a property of the bank.
The Head of the Banking Operations Unit of the bank, Annah Jusu Lavalie, testified before the presiding Magistrate, Sahr Kekura on Thursday 8th February 2024.
She said 1st July 2022, a time when the new Leone currency was launched there were a lot of things to settle at the bank so she went to the Kenema branch, where the accused was the branch manager.
She said as part of her oversight duties, she checked the cash in Volt and checked the physical cash.
Ms. Lavalie said the cash in the system was higher than the physical cash and that the accused signed the cash certificate for the correctness of what was in the system and that of the physical cash.
“…I reported the matter to management at headquarters and an internal investigation was instituted to investigate what was the cause,” she said while telling the court that she was not part of the said investigation team.
The court learned from the witness that she later understood that the accused had deposited 300 million Old Leones into the volt and that no customer deposited into the volt.
During cross-examination with Lawyer P.D. Kamara, the witness said part of her duty in her capacity was to go around and on spot checks/ unannounced visits to ensure policies were enforced especially with the introduction of the new Leones.
Responding to a question on whether the accused had been complaining of understaffing at his branch due to an overload of work with the insurgence of the new Leones, the witness affirmed but said three additional staff were sent to the branch directly under the accused’s supervision.
The witness also informed the court that the bank as a whole uses “bank manager software” and so do all the branches, in response to the question of the kind of software the Kenema branch uses.
According to her, she can be in Freetown to check the balance in the system, but she has to be at the location to check the physical balance of cash at a particular branch.
Commenting on whether only the accused had access to the volt, the witness said she was not aware of that.
When she was asked to describe the volt, the witness said it was very secure and of the best standard. The case resumes on the 13th of February this year.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (09/02/24)
