Samuel Kallon 
By Ragan M. Conteh
The Anti-Corruption Commissioner (ACC) boss, Francis Ben Kelfala Esq. has referred to corrupt officials in public institutions as “bed bugs” who are there to steal public monies.
He made the disturbing statement on Thursday 6th March, 2025 at a press conference held at the Commission’s headquarters in Freetown to update the media on the ongoing corruption investigation involving four billion old leones at the Freetown City Council (FCC).
According to Francis Ben Kelfala, the revenue streams of FCC are under attack.
He said four billions (4) Leones collected from license, cemetery and billboards revenue streams were corruptly transferred to the Freetown City Council (FCC) Football Club account at Commerce and Mortgage Bank (CMB).
Mr. Kelfala revealed that when these monies were collected certain individuals who were supposed to send those monies to the FCC account were diverting them FCC football account which is separate from the Council’s account and corruptly shared it among them.
The ACC Commissioner said, so far 13 FCC staff and 2 from Commerce and Mortgage Bank have been arrested and detained, others have been released on bail for obvious reasons and others have already started to refund what the chopped.
The Commissioner told the media that the theft at the FCC started immediately the Mayor of the handover the FCC Football Account in 2022 to Duba Navo, Sema Conteh and William Martin all workers at FCC as a way to make the running of the club autonomous.
The ACC boss assured the public that those bankers involved and their bank will have to face strong consequences and their reputations will be under attack while those arrested will be charged to court.
He highlighted serious concerns over the continuous syphoning of public funds sometimes by junior workers.
He said government institutions have bowed down to corruption over sixty decades, adding that the graft is still practiced at all levels which makes it more serious to curtail.
He said through their investigation they were abl;e to discover that those FCC officials involved acted in connivance with some bankers to forge signatures to steal public monies.
Ben Kelfala therefore urged the Judiciary of Sierra Leone to help curtail corruption by dispensing heavy penalties to perpetrators of corruption in the land.
“We are doing our best as ACC, but we do not have powers to jail those officials he referred to as bed bugs in public entities.
“Other countries are experiencing typhoons, mudslides, flooding but here in Sierra Leone we have typhoon of corruption and we the people are the typhoon of corruption,” he stated, adding that until we change that narrative things will remain the same.
