The European Commission has suspended aid to Sierra Leone following the West African country’s refusal to extradite convicted Dutch drug trafficker Jos Leijdekkers, Dutch Justice and Security Minister David van Weel told Telegraaf.
Leijdekkers, also known as Bolle Jos, has reportedly been living in Sierra Leone for some time and is said to have close links to the family of the country’s president.
The convicted drug trafficker has been sentenced to a combined 80 years in prison in the Netherlands and Belgium over drug trafficking offences. Dutch authorities have been seeking his extradition from Sierra Leone for several months, but efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
Van Weel welcomed the European Union’s decision to halt the funding.
“I am very pleased with this move. It is deeply galling that European Union funds are going to a country that refuses to cooperate with the extradition of someone like Bolle Jos,” Van Weel told the newspaper.
Earlier this year, the minister said the Netherlands would seek to persuade the EU to suspend development assistance to Sierra Leone over the matter.
He also argued that removing Leijdekkers from the country would serve Sierra Leone’s interests, citing the scale of the alleged drug trafficker’s wealth.
“In our estimation, this man has an income of hundreds of millions of euros per month in a country with a gross national product lower than his income. That will naturally corrupt such a country completely,” the minister said at the time.
The EU has allocated €325m in grants to Sierra Leone for the 2021–2027 period.
According to Telegraaf, Sierra Leone was expected to receive another €18m from the EU this year, followed by €20.5m next year. However, the country will not receive the remaining portion of this year’s allocation.
The EU has yet to decide whether funding scheduled for next year will also be withheld.
Meanwhile, discussions are reportedly ongoing over possible EU-wide sanctions targeting individuals described as “types like Bolle Jos.”
