Sierra Leone’s Court of Appeal has called for the arrest of the opposition candidate who had been the runner-up during the presidential elections this year.
The court had revealed that the arrest is on a basis of suspected corruption associated with the sale of government equity in a mining company.
Samuel Kamara had been the candidate for the opposition All People’s Congress Party –APC, in 2018 and again in June.
He was arraigned in 2021 for reported graft requiring a separate matter when he was foreign minister. The trial is still on and he is pleading not guilty.
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal directed for Kamara to be arrested and handed over to the anti-corruption commission for interrogation. The questioning was over a “questionable ” deal involving the 2012 sale of government shares in a local mining company, Sierra Rutile Limited.
Kamara had been finance minister at the time.
His legal team had appealed against the commission’s accusations, citing lack of evidence. But judges dismissed the appeal, saying there was no documentation on the sale and that the former government was not aware of it.
They further directed Kamara to refund the present government about $727,000 within two weeks or provide proof of the contrary.
