Samuel Kallon 
Lamin Tarawally, a senior accountant at Hastings Toll Gate has been sent to prison by Magistrate Sahr Kekura for allegedly stealing over seven hundred thousand new leones at the Hastings Toll Gates and also allegedly forging Standard Chartered Bank’s deposit slips on behalf of the Toll Gate company.
The accused was arraigned before the court on six count charges ranging from conspiracy to defraud contrary to law, uttering forgery document contrary to section 6(1)(2) of Forgery Act of 1913 and Larceny by Servant contrary to Section 17(1)(a) of the Larceny Act 1916.
The charge sheet indicated that the accused on dates between Friday 1st and Monday 4th November 2024, at Hastings Toll Gate Freetown, conspired with other persons to defraud the West African Operation and Management Company (WAOMC) by forging and altering one Standard Chartered Bank’s cash deposit slip dated 2nd November, 2024 with a face value of one hundred and forty two thousand seven hundred and eighty nine new leones purporting that it was prepared and signed by Ibrahim K. Gbundema, his junior Accountant of the said company.
The charge sheet furthered that the accused also forged another bank deposit slip amounting two hundred and eighty three thousand, one hundred new leones dated 4th November, 2024 purporting that it was prepared and signed by same Alhaji S. Mansaray his Junior Accountant at the West Africa Operations and Management Company (WAOMC).
The charge sheet also revealed that the accused being a senior Accountant of (WAOMC), stole the sum of three hundred and sixty four thousand, four hundred and four new Leones, property of (WAOMC).
Led in evidence by Assistant Superintendent of Police Ibrahim Mansaray, the witness Alhaji Sheku Mansaray recognized accused Tarawally as senior colleague working at the West Africa Operation and Management Company at Hastings Tool Gate Station One.
He said he is a junior accountant to the accused at the said company.
The witness said his responsibility at the said company is to receive money from Toll Gate collectors per shift and compare the fiscal cash to the software in the machine, adding that after comparing the system, he writes it down on a document named “Demand Notes.”
He furthered that he usually calculates the fiscal cash to know if it is equal to what is in the system by using the bill note counting machine and calculator.
He said after checking the amount, he would enter it on the same Demand Note, and he, and the Toll Gate collectors signed a slip and after the signature and confirmation, the total cash will be placed in small sheets and the same amount will be sent to the Hastings Toll Gate finance department group and will take the fiscal cash to a specific safe provided by the company to keep the monies and he will write a bank slip for the depositing of the total income for the day by the accused.
He said after making the slip, he will snap it and send it to the company’s WhatsApp group for verification by head of finance who is the accused to also verify the fiscal cash and bank slip and after that he is off duty.
He said before leaving, he always hands over the bank slip and the fiscal cash to the accused.
He said the purpose of giving the accused the said cash is because it is his responsibility to hand over the cash to the bank.
He added that the money they usually gave to the accused was on behalf of the company.
The witness recalled on
Friday 1st and Monday 24th November, 2024, adding that he was on duty in the afternoon when he prepared a “Demand Note” for the monies collected from the Toll Gates booths collectors.
He said after collecting the said monies, him and the collectors verify the amount on the software machine which was counted from the machine and was written down on the Demand Note which was signed by both parties.
A document was shown to the witness which he identified as “The Demand Note.”
At this juncture, the prosecution sought for an adjournment for the Demand Note to be made available before the court.
Lead defense counsel Chernor Kamara made an application for bail on behalf of the accused.
The prosecutor Ibrahim Mansaray vehemently objected to bail on the grounds that the accused will interfere with prosecution witness.
Magistrate Kekura refused bail on the grounds that the witness is subordinate to the accused and will likely interfere with him and the other witnesses.
The accused was remanded in custody until 3rd February, 2025 for continuation.
