...As Sierra Leone sacks Chief of Staff
President Ernest Bai Koroma last night sacked his Chief of Defence Staff, Dr Richard Konteh. A press release from State House gave as reason the allegation that "he was not open and transparent in the conduct of official negotiations for a mining agreement with a private sector operator, thereby violating established policy, undermining existing institutional arrangements, and exposing government to potential loss of revenue". It is not clear which mining company it is.
The release also says that Dr Konteh involved himself in "the illegal export of timber from Sierra Leone...[in] an unauthorized executive order allegedly issued by Dr. Konteh granting an open-ended mandate to the timber harvesters, processors and exporters (SL) Ltd to undertake the export of an unlimited quantity of value-added processed timber, in direct contravention of the approval granted" by the president.
On Saturday police obtained statement from Dr Richard Konteh over the illegal shipment of 400 containers of timber from Sierra Leone.
It followed the arrest and detention of timber magnate, Allie Suma who said he had acted with the approval of Dr Konteh to ship the items.
Police CID sources say Suma was arrested after he had "illegally" exported the said amount of timber on the "false pretence" that he had been cleared by the president through the former trade minister.
Dr Konteh yesterday sent documents to the police relating to the investigations shortly before his sacking.
Police say the now former chief of staff admitted to signing one of two documents giving permission to export timber, but only 30 containers, which he said had been approved by President Ernest Bai Koroma, flouting the years-old ban on the export of timber from the country.
He denied knowledge of the other permit apparently with his signature, which allows for an open-ended shipment.
When contacted for his reaction, Dr Konteh said he did not wish to give one. When pushed, he said only "Time Will Tell" four times. He denied any wrongdoing saying he wanted to allow the police to investigate the matter which he said he did not want to pre-empt.
"When the police report is out," he said, he would be absolved.
(C) Politico 11/06/14
