The suspended Deputy Auditor-General has released a statement in response to the Audit Tribunal Report.
The suspended Deputy Auditor-General, Mr. Tamba Momoh, has responded to the report of the Auditor-General’s Tribunal Set up in 2021 to investigate their professional conduct prior to the release of the 2020 Audit Year Report on the Office of the Secretary to the President and other MDA’s. The report details the result of the investigations into their professional conduct and concludes that both the suspended auditor-general and deputy auditor-general were in breach of professional standards, conflict of interest, breach of confidentiality, and selective reporting.
In his statement, Mr. Momoh asserts that the report is a misrepresentation of what transpired during the tribunal hearings, including that the report and its judgement are one-sided as both his defence statement and the suspended auditor general’s defence statement were totally ignored.
According to Mr. Momoh, the Tribunal failed to find him guilty of conflict of interest after sighting a state witness who lied during his testimony in court and further added that the Tribunal failed to reach out to Mr. Kongomanyi, the Managing Director of the LKG firm, the private firm that the report purported that Mr. Momoh worked for while serving as the Deputy Auditor-General, to prove his guilt.
Furthermore, Mr. Momoh, in his statement, holds the defence that the Tribunal has no direct jurisdiction over him as the Deputy Auditor-General, as his office is governed by the Audit Service Act of 2014. He also questions the transparency and fairness of the Attorney General’s concise allegation statement filed against them.
Mr. Tamba Momoh further denies allegations of breach of confidentiality, stating that it’s within the scope of their professional standards to seek a third-party confirmation when conducting an audit exercise as prescribed by the International Audit Standard.
Additionally, Mr. Tamba Momoh highlighted numerous allegations filed against them by the tribunal, describing them as baseless allegations and adding that the prosecutors failed to provide proportional, concrete, and accurate evidence to prove them guilty on those allegations, including allegations of selective reporting and failure to conduct a proper audit on the Freetown City Council Transformation project.
Moreover, Mr. Momoh emphasised that he worked within the scope of professional standards provided for by the International Audit Institutions (ISSA), condemning the report’s provision that he breached professional audit standards. He also challenges any authority who has concrete evidence against him to do so.
Finally, he also highlighted other matters prior to his suspension done by authorities that affected the enjoyment of his personal Human Rights of Freedom of Movement, stating that his travel passport was withheld by the then Chief Immigration Officer,Mr. Andrew Kaikai, who told him that he was acting under the direction of the then Secretary to the President, Mr. Julius Sandy.
In conclusion, Mr. Momoh denies all the allegations of breach of professional standard and concluded there is a lack of accuracy of all evidence against them in the report.
