By Mary Kabay
Francis Ben Kaifala, the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), has issued a stern warning for those named in the recently published Auditor General’s Report for 2019, reiterating his commitment to investigate and where the need arises prosecute in accordance with the Commission’s mandate those named in the report.
Speaking during a Press Conference, the Commissioner assured that the Commission would use all its constitutional powers, which include arrests and detentions and even prosecution, to ensure that people who were linked to issues raised in the report were held accountable and brought to book.
“Now the issues I have raised here and the institutions I’ve named here are put on notice that we’re coming and we’re coming strong. We’re not going to accept excuses. There is a tendency when we move in, institutions will gang up and say the ACC is interrupting just as they did in the 2018 Audit Report,’’ he warned.
He added: “People are going to pay, people are going to go to prison, people are going to be arrested in the most brutal form, people are going to be prosecuted, and of course hold people where I think it hurts the most, their pockets, we’ll go after properties and their persons. It’s not a threat, it’s a fact,’’ he affirmed.
Mindful that Parliament is also mandated to look at the country’s annual audit report, Commissioner Kaifala noted that the Commission and the House had reached a common understanding to formally meet next week to see where and how the mandate of both institutions could be effectively carried out in the best interest of the country.
He told journalists that following the launch of the 2019 Auditor General’s Report, the Commission put together a team to review the issues raised therein and to decide on what the next line of action would be.
He went on to note that the Commission however launched an immediate investigation into some of the issues raised in the 2020 Audit Report.
In commenting on the issues raised in respect of certain items procured by the National COVID-19 Emergency Response Center, he said that all such items including the 47 laptops and 50 KVA generators had been recovered. He said their investigations had proved that there was misinformation regarding the documentation of the items at the time of procurement, but assured that all laptops and the 50 KVA generator were intact as procured.
Acknowledging that there was faulty procurement between the procurer and the supplier which resulted in the supply of products different from what was actually procured, the Commissioner said that a payment agreement had been reached between them and the response team for which the sum of Le 284 million had been paid in cash to the Commission.
He, however, acknowledged that it was not timely to draw up conclusions that the 30 or so SUVs procured were all new or not, as investigations were still ongoing into the procurement.
The ACC chief used the occasion to call on the Government to continue to support the work of the Commission as the country’s reputation for zero tolerance for corruption was at its zenith which he said must be guarded.
He said his leadership of the Commission and the Government’s commitment in the fight against graft had made corruption a risky enterprise and a low income venture which he said accounted for the international recognition the country had been achieving.
