By Saio Marrah
Mohamed Kamara, an alleged victim of visa fraud has told Magistrate Mark Ngegba that the 47-year-old accused Mohamed Sal of 66 Sir Samuel Lewis Road, Aberdeen in Freetown, first collected 25 million old Leones from him on the promise that he will provide him a visa to travel to Australia, but he failed to achieve that.
Kamara said that between the 1st and 30 of June last year, he first gave 20 million old Leones in the presence of two other men and his wife, at the residence of the accused, after his wife had told him about the travel program and tendered in evidence, receipts given to him by the accused.
The witness told the court how he gave another five million old Leones, to a man called Daniel, on behalf of the accused, and that the accused acknowledged the money as well. According to him, the accused promised that his visa to Australia would be ready by August 2022 but that did not happen. He said: “So I asked him to give back my money, but he begged me to be patient and that he would even arrange two visas for me - A full G visa to Australia and asked me to give another 25 million old Leones to fast track this category of visa. He gave me a receipt for that money as well.”
The witness told the magistrate that since then the accused stopped answering his calls and that he and his wife reported the matter at the Aberdeen Police station and later received information about his arrest and detention at the Congo Cross Police Station, and then his transfer to the C I D.
Defence Lawyer, M.L Sesay in his cross-examination, asked the alleged victim if the accused proved to him that he could indeed provide the service of a travel agent, in reply, the witness said the accused only showed him some documents that included visas.
Asked if he had proof that the accused was not a travel agent, Kamara said he had no idea and that when he asked the second accused about his office he did say anything.
Mohamed Sal is facing a preliminary investigation on two counts of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretense. The case resumes on the 5th of April this year.
In another separate case, another witness, Abdul Rahman Bah, also testified against the same accused for allegedly obtaining money from his brother, Abdul Karim Bah in his presence and at the same address in Aberdeen.
Bah said on the 4th of December 2022, his brother handed over 40 million old Leones to the accused on the promise of providing him a visa to travel to Australia and that he was issued a receipt.
According to him, the accused promised his brother that the visa would be ready by the 4th of January 2023.
He told the court that his brother called the accused in front of him when the accused requested another Le 1,500,000 (One million five hundred thousand old Leones) from his brother and that the money was sent by Orange Money transfer. After that, he said the accused told his brother that the people who would issue the visa were on vacation so he had to be patient.
The witness said his brother on several occasions tried calling the accused but he wouldn’t pick up his calls, so he said they decided to travel to Freetown from Feredugu but that on arrival at the home of the accused, they were informed about his arrest and detention at CID, where they also made statements.
Copyright (c) 2023 (31/03/23)
