By Sulaiman Jalloh

As Parliament continues hearings into the 2021, 2022 audit queries, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh on Wednesday, September 4, 2024, ordered Union Trust Bank Kenema Branch to pay 460 million old Leone into Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA) account between the date of announcement to Friday, September 7, 2024.

The ruling of the Deputy Speaker was as a result of a 471 million old Leone query that was raised in the Auditor General’s Report for 2022 relating to financial discrepancies between the SLRSA and the bank.

Making his ruling, the chairman said the laws are meant to guide the process and that people should take time to understand them.

He furthered that if UTB fail to adhere to the ruling, PAC will write the Bank of Sierra Leone for further action, while stressing for evidence to be provided to the committee.

According to Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, the signature of staff of the bank including the bank’s stamp means the money was deposited to the bank.

Furthermore, the Deputy Speaker revealed that following a ruling by PAC on budgetary enhancement, the Ministry of Finance had received requests from MDAs amounting to 198 billion old Leone subject to approval by the PAC.

Budgetary enhancements are monies outside the approved budget by Parliament for the services of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Reacting to the ruling of the chairman, the Managing Director of SLRSA Rev. Smart Senesie noted that they are happy with the ruling, saying for more than a year, they’ve been after Union Trust Bank for the said amount but they [UTB] had failed to do so before coming to Parliament. According to him, they sent correspondences to the bank since January but to no avail.