By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Prosecutor in the on-going preliminary investigation of Dr. Richard Konteh and two others for alleged illegal timber export has asked that the bail for Alie Suma, one of the accused, be revoked because he "interferes with witnesses".
Monfred Momoh Sesay said “we have got very strong information that is maturing into evidence that the accused and or his relations have started contacting some of our potential witnesses with the intention of interfering with them.”
He claimed that that was happening because Suma was moving about freely, adding that any interference would be a barrier in front of the prosecuting team when it came to proving their case. He asked that those chances be minimised.
Responding to the application, one of the defence lawyers, Julian Cole, explained that the accused persons were never served with any list of witnesses, adding that “he does not know any of the prosecution’s potential witnesses”.
Added to that, he said, was that the prosecution’s application was “largely based on hearsay and he has said that the information was maturing into evidence”.
He said the court could not accept anything short of the threshold of evidence, urging the magistrate to not play into the wings of mere information. “If the information actually develops into evidence, then the court is minded to act upon it”, he argued.
Presiding magistrate, Komba Kamanda of Court No.2 in Freetown ruled that the prosecution failed to state the particulars of the interference like who was interfered with and what was said or done. He however advised defence attorneys to warn their clients against bad behaviours whiles on bail.
“You all know the consequences”, he warned, adding that the court had no right to withdraw the accused person’s bail without a good reason.
Prior to the prosecution’s application, the third prosecution witness, who identified himself as the chief director and professional head at the trade ministry, Ahmed Akar Ahmed, testified about the role he played in the export scam.
He told the court that the trade ministry only approved of 30 containers of processed and value-added timber to be exported.
“Apart from that approval, I neither issued any other approval nor am I aware of any other approval coming from anywhere else”, he said.
The witness also identified documents that had already been tendered by preceding witnesses.
The matter was adjourned to Thursday, August 14.
(C) Politico 01/08/14
