A Sierra Leone court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Samura Kamara, the opposition leader and runner-up in last June’s presidential election, on charges of corruption.
Kamara was in the role of finance minister under then-President Ernest Bai Koroma at the time of the alleged offense.
The Court of Appeal, through a statement, has directed the immediate arrest of former APC presidential candidate Dr. Samura M.W. Kamara. The arrest is tied to his alleged role in a 2012 transaction involving the sale of government-held shares in a mining company.
Kamara’s lawyer could not be reached immediately for a comment.
Julius Maada Bio emerged as the winner in the June 2023 presidential election, with Kamara coming in second. However, the opposition leader contested the outcome.
The APC claimed that the presidential, parliamentary and local elections had all been rigged, and decided to boycott the parliament and local councils.
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The government and the APC reached an agreement in October, with the APC consenting to cease its boycott in exchange for the discontinuation of politically motivated detentions and court cases.
President Bio, after securing his first term in 2018, spearheaded an energetic campaign against the endemic corruption and mismanagement of public assets in the country.
The involvement of several senior members of the Koroma administration led the APC, the former ruling party, to denounce it as a “witch-hunt.”
Kamara has been on trial since December 2021, accused of embezzling more than $2.5 million in public funds intended for renovating the consulate in New York while he served as foreign minister.
Last month, Freetown was the scene of clashes described by the government as an “attempted coup”.
In the early hours of November 26, armed attackers targeted a military armoury, two barracks, two prisons, and two police stations, resulting in clashes with security forces.
Police disclosed on Tuesday that former president Koroma has been implicated as a suspect in the planning of the events that transpired on November 26.
The official figures report that the clashes resulted in 21 fatalities, including 18 members of the security forces and three assailants. Subsequent to the incident, 80 individuals have been apprehended.
Following the announcement, he was placed on house arrest.Since 2020, West Africa has witnessed a string of coups, leading to the military assuming power in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea.