Sierra Akker Agricultural Company Chops Millions of Leones …With no Evidence of Work Carried Out

The Sierra Akker Agricultural Company received the sum of NLe806,195 which is equivalent to eight hundred and six million one hundred and ninety-five thousand old Leones as grant for the purchase of a prefabricated hatchery building and complementary hatchery equipment to the chicken processing line under the Sierra Leone Economic Diversification Project.
This was revealed by the protector of the Sierra Leone public purse, Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) in their recently published report noting that the grant was given to a company not in operation.
The report maintained that evidence to confirm the procurement of these items were not made available.
“We recommended that the service provider should ensure that the total amount of NLe806,195 is refunded and paid into the project account and evidence of payments submitted to the ASSL for verification,” ASSL ordered.
An official response to the audit noted that the selection of beneficiary businesses is the responsibility of the service provider hired by the Project adding that at the time of selection, the service provider, adhered to the established due process for all businesses enrolled in the program.
That an assessment was conducted, involving the submission of valid registration documents and a visit to premises to verify their operational status. It was evident that the business possessed assets, and was legally registered to operate in Sierra Leone, and submitted a bank statement demonstrating compliance with the turnover requirement. Additionally, as part of the grant process, the business was required to open a business bank account, which was successfully done and consequently, the grant was deposited into that account.
“No evidence was provided for audit verification to confirm that the items were procured by the grantee (service provider). Most importantly, no evidence of recovery of the disbursed amount totalling NLe806,195 was submitted for audit verification; therefore, the issue remains unresolved,” the Audit stated.