Though the situation at the Rokel Commercial Bank (RCBank) appears calm on the surface, it is alleged that the financial institution is in a state where there is lack of true peace or tranquility, and a feeling of potential disturbance or conflict lurking beneath the surface.

Though the tenure of the Rokel Commercial Bank Managing Director Dr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin has expired since this year June 16, he is reportedly lobbying senior officials in the corridors of power for their protection so that he would continue to serve the bank in that capacity.

According to inside sources, Dr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin report claimed spends most of his time visiting various senior officers in the Bio administration to lobby them for his protection because he wants to continue as Managing Director of the bank at all cost.

The report further disclosed that the current troubling issue at the Rokel Commercial Bank is the alleged shrinking of its foreign currencies to hundreds of thousands of United States dollars which the Managing Director and his henchmen at the bank have remained silent about.

One of the sources suggested that the current state of the bank should be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament in order to save the Rokel Commercial Bank from collapse as a public financial institution, adding that apart from the fact that Dr. Gilpin is lobbying to prolong his stay at the bank, he is also having sleepless nights over the shrinking of foreign currency at the Bank.

It could be recalled that Dr. Gilpin had been allegedly involved in series of scandalous issues at the Rokel Commercial Bank since he became its Managing Director during the Koroma Administration. During the time heads of public institutions were asked to produce their academic credentials, the then Board Secretary of the National Privatization Commission (NPC), Madam Ansumana requested Dr. Gilpin to present his academic credentials to the Commission for verification.

But unfortunately, some senior officials at State House and the Bank of Sierra Leone, including the then Adviser to the President, Mrs. Kona Koroma, erstwhile Secretary to the President, Dr. Julius Sandi, and the former Bank Governor, Professor Kelfala Kallon stopped the investigation into the alleged fake degrees of the Managing Director. They asked Madam Ansumana not to disturb Dr. Gilpin for any presentation of academic credentials.

Also, when a committee set up by the RCBank’s Board of Director to investigate the Managing Director for alleged sexual harassment and bullying completed its investigations, the same senior government officials at State House and the Bank of Sierra Leone stood on the way to protect someone accused of sexual harassment and bullying, an action that was vehemently opposed by human rights and civil society activists.

One of the human rights’ activists allegedly referred to Dr. Gilpin as a womanizer who halts women in the banking sector, said: “Some female staff at RCBank had to leave the bank because they got fed up with sexual harassments in the form of unsolicited phone calls and pornography materials sent to their phones during odd hours by Gilpin.”

Meanwhile, concerned citizens are calling on the government to not only ask Dr. Gilpin to leave office since his tenure of office has long expired, but to also investigate the shrinking of foreign currencies at the bank under the watch of the Managing Director.