Freetown, Sierra Leone – The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohamed Lamin Tarawalley, has begun the formal process for the removal of suspended Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce, following directives from President Julius Maada Bio.
The Clerk of Parliament, Hon. Paran Tarawally, confirmed that he has received the Tribunal Report on the suspended Auditor General from the Attorney General.
While he did not provide a specific timeline for when the report will be debated and voted on, he indicated that the document is now awaiting parliamentary action.
It is expected that the report will be presented in Parliament on Friday, August 30, 2024, when Members of Parliament return from their recess.
Lara Taylor-Pearce and her deputy, Tamba Momoh, were suspended in 2021 and subsequently investigated by a tribunal over allegations of professional misconduct related to the auditing of purportedly fraudulent receipts within the Office of the President. Both have consistently denied any wrongdoing and have stated that they have yet to receive the report recommending their removal.
Despite repeated calls from several civil society organizations, including the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), the government has not yet made the Tribunal Report public.
