By Ragan M. Conteh

The Public Account Committee (PAC) in parliament chaired by Hon. Sengepoh Solomon Thomas who doubles as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Parliament has ordered Ernest Bai Koroma (EBK) University’s Director of Finance, Sylvanus Kallay, to  refund the sum of Two Hundred and Forty-Three Thousand, One Hundred and Seventy-Eight Leones (NLe243,178) to the state consolidated Fund.

The PAC has also ordered the Director of Finance to furnish the Committee with receipts after payment.

The Committee said failure to repay the stolen monies would force them to refer EBK’s officials to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for thorough investigation into the matter and for possible prosecution.

According to the assistant auditor general, Morie Lansana, a whooping sum of NLe243,178 were paid to staff after retirement.

The deputy speaker, Sengepoh Solomon Thomas, further ordered the director of fiance Mr. Kallay to deduct the money from their terminal benefits, adding that they well-know that they’d retired but they went ahead to collect the money which did not belong to them.

Hon Thomas said those staff knew that they had retired and thus were not supposed to take money that they did not work for.

The Committee further instructed the university to write letters to them and informed them that their money were going to be deducted from the terminal benefits, otherwise, the Committee will refer them to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for investigation and prosecution.

The deputy speaker also advised the head of university to make all the relevant documents to Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) in order to free their necks from the problem.

Sometimes, he says, when they fail to submit the relevant documents to ASSL and when the final report comes it will be embarrassing not only for them.

But it is also embarrassing also for the government of Sierra Leone.

He emphasized that money matters are serious matters and he urged them to treat the Audit Service with utmost respect it deserves.

The University Director of Finance, Syllvanous Kallay, said when those  staff had attained retirement age, they informed the Accountant General’s Department for their names to be deleted or erased from the pay roll system.

Mr Kallay urged that he had made the documents available to the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) when the team went to the university to audit. The Deputy Auditor General, he said, Morie Lansana, denied having the documents.

The audit team discovered that a balance of NLe 155,000 was reported as suppliers’ tax and local creditors respectively.

The creditors and suppliers’ statement were not made available for audit.

According to the Deputy Auditor General, Morie Lansana, they discovered that property (land) belonging to the EBK University was not protected.

As a result, several private and public structures had already been built or erected on the University’s land in Port-Loko and Makeni campuses including the secretariat and the Government Technical Institute (GTI) in Magburuka.

Conclusively, the Committee vowed to visit the university to verify all assets belonging to it and assured EBK authorities of providing a surveyor to survey the land that belongs to EBK University for protection.