A
GUIDE FOR PERSONS INVOLVED IN THE DISCOVERY OR REPORTING
OF SUSPECTED CORRUPT PRACTICES
INTRODUCTION
Most people in Sierra Leone want to see an end to corruption
and are prepared to make a stand against corrupt practices.
This is good, because it will make our country stronger
and everyone will benefit. The information in this booklet
will help
- To provide a source of advice to persons who discover
corruption and want to report corrupt practices and
show them how they can go about it
- To encourage employees to look out for corrupt
practices in their work places
- To provide necessary protection against reprisals
If people know what to do if they discover corruption
at work, then:
·
More
corrupt practices in the work place will be unveiled and
people will be willing to give evidence or information.
·
There
will be a reduction of corrupt practices in the work places
·
The
work of the Anti Corruption Commission will be enhanced
and the Commission will become more effective
WHY “BLOW THE WHISTLE”?
Employees, who believe that they have information (including
documents) that may be connected to the planning or Commission
of a crime, especially corrupt practices, have a duty
to draw this fact to the attention of the Anti-Corruption
Commission. This applies irrespective of whether the information
appears to be helpful to a suspect or defendant or to
support a case against such a person. This principle
flows from the overriding requirement that the Commission
must have as much evidence as possible during an investigation
so that a correct decision can be made as to whether or
not a suspect should face prosecution.
HOW WILL THIS BOOKLET HELP YOU?
The information contained in this booklet will help
to guide you on the procedures you should follow when
providing such information as well as your responsibilities
if you are asked to respond to a formal request for information
from the Commission. The booklet also explains your legal
responsibilities when giving evidence as a witness and
also shows how you can be protected against reprisals
in your workplace that may result from your giving information
and evidence. We hope that when you have read this booklet
you will agree to be as helpful and open as you reasonably
can.
FUNCTIONS OF THE ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION
The Mandate of the Anti Corruption Commission is:
·
To
ENFORCE the law on corruption. It does this by Investigating
cases of corruption that come to its notice, and taking
suspects to court;
·
To
take steps to PREVENT corruption. It does this by examining the practices and procedures in the public and private bodies
in order to secure revision of procedures and practices
that are prone or conducive to corrupt practices and by
disseminating information on the evils of corrupt practices
and enlisting public support against corrupt practices.
WHAT THINGS SHOULD YOU REPORT TO THE COMMISSION
You should give any information that may disclose or
reveal the following:
·
Corrupt
Practices
·
Fraud
and fraudulent accounting
·
Abuse
or misuse of public office
·
Misappropriation
of donor funds
·
Public
Officers using their influence in the award of contracts
WHAT MUST YOU DO IF YOU BECOME AWARE OF SUCH ACTIVITIES?
·
Inform
the Commission promptly giving as much information as
possible. You may do this by reporting in person; or by
writing to the Commission disclosing your name or by remaining
anonymous; or by telephone, fax or e mail
YOU MUST NOT
·
Act
maliciously or deliberately make a false allegation
·
Seek
any personal gain
·
Approach
anyone you suspect may be involved in the Commission or
planning of corrupt practices
·
Do
anything which might put you or others at risk, or prejudice
a possible investigation or prosecution
·
Reveal
your suspicion to anyone, other than the Commission.
WHEN ARE YOU LIKELY TO DISCOVER SUCH PRACTICES?
The most likely situation in which you might find yourself
in possession of information which may be relevant to
a corrupt practices, investigation, prosecution or defence
is where they, or their department or institution have
had official dealings with an individual or company known
to be under investigation. All such dealings will be
relevant, but it is important not to take too narrow a
view about this. The Commission will usually be able
to advise quite readily whether your information is likely
to be of interest to them and would prefer to be given
the opportunity of doing so. Information which throws
light on the background or context of suspected offences
may also be of interest and should be brought to the Commission’s
attention.
REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION: THE IMPORTANCE
OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
It is essential that the Commission has access to as
much relevant information as possible. Documentary evidence,
particularly where the documents are contemporaneous to
the events in question, may be crucial. Your response
to requests for documents should be both thorough and
careful.
PROCEDURES FOR HANDLING REQUESTS
The Commission has the legal power under the Anti Corruption
Act to make requests for documents and other from any
person. Normally such requests are made in writing to
the Head of a Department or Institution who is under a
legal obligation to respond quickly. If you think that
you are not the right person to respond, or that others
may also have documents related to the request you should
inform the Commission.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you fully understand
the terms of any Notice or request that may be served
on you before responding. If you do not fully understand
the Notice or request or if you think you will have difficulties
in complying with it, you should inform the Commission
immediately. If from your knowledge of the work of your
department you know that the material sought is not available
in the particular form requested but could be accessed
in a different way you should suggest this to the Commission.
However, you will remain under an obligation to volunteer
any information you have or which subsequently comes to
light, which you believe to be relevant.
It is an offence under the Anti Corruption Act to refuse
to comply with a legal Notice or request or to delay the
work of the Commission.
HOW WILL YOU DECIDE WHAT DOCUMENTS ARE RELEVANT?
In deciding what documents may be relevant, you should
be guided by the terms of the Notice or request. You
should not confine your attention to documents which support
any particular version of events even if this is what
the Notice or request asks you to do: a document which
suggests that a given event did not happen is clearly
as relevant as one suggesting that it did. Usually the
Notice or request will give brief details of the offence
being investigated, and what information is needed. If
you are aware of any information or documents which may
be relevant to the offence or to any known lines of defence
or if such information or documents subsequently come
to light, you should report this to the Commission. You
should also bear in mind the possibility that relevant
information may exist in non-written form e.g. in a computer
database.
LOCATING DOCUMENTS OR OTHER INFORMATION
Where possible, you should as a first
step discuss the request for documents with any colleagues
who were directly involved in the matter to which it relates.
Even if they only have a hazy recollection of these matters,
they may be able to help you narrow down the range of
files which may contain relevant material or alert you
to search in files which might otherwise have been overlooked.
You must search for any document which you know, believe
or expect to exist and if any of these cannot be found
you must inform the Commission, why you believe or would
expect these documents to exist and what you know about
their contents. You must also examine those files which
by their title or your knowledge of their content, you
would expect to be the ones to contain any relevant material.
Loose documents should be located and checked. In addition,
individual colleagues likely to have been in receipt of
documents within the search parameters should be asked
whether they have unregistered loose documents. Cupboards,
filling cabinets and drawers in which loose documents
might be stored should also be checked.
RESPONDING TO A NOTICE OR REQUEST
The Notice or request for documents may suggest or prescribe
the form that your response should take, and it may be
convenient for you to respond in this way. Possible forms
of response include:-
- Sending copies of all the documents that you have
identified as relevant to the request or to the matters
under investigation
- Inviting the Commission to examine he documents
you have identified
- Describing any information and/or documents you
have identified so that the Commission can assess whether
or not they are likely to be relevant.
GIVING EVIDENCE – INTERVIEW AND WITNESS STATEMENTS
If you have been personally involved in events or procedures
connected to a criminal investigation, you may be asked
to give a personal account of the events or procedures
in an interview by Officers of the Commission, in a Witness
Statement.
The Commission will give you advice on the legal requirements
(and constraints) you must comply with in giving evidence.
However, there are two overriding considerations that
you must bear in mind:
- That it is YOUR evidence not that of your
institution, the investigator or anyone else; and
- That you must be truthful and not mislead by omission.
WITNESS SUMMONS
If you are served with a witness summons you will be
placed under a legal obligation to appear before a court
of law. You should obtain advice from the Commission
as soon as you are served with a summons. Your upkeep
will be taken care of by the Commission.
GIVING YOUR OWN EVIDENCE
Usually, a Commission Officer will interview you if
you are a witness and will write a statement based upon
the answers you give. This is a convenient method of
assembling and structuring the evidence and of ensuring
that everything is covered. However, you are entirely
free to have any amendments made to your statement. You
will be required to make the statement on Oath. You must
always tell the truth and if you tell lies you may be
prosecuted.
The important point to always remember is that at the
end of the day it will be your statement. Therefore before
you sign the statement make sure that you are absolutely
satisfied that the contents are true to the best of your
knowledge and belief.
Take care when answering an interviewer’s question and
in checking the completeness and accuracy of any statement
produced from them. Usually the interview will try to
ask mainly “open” questions – ones that allow you to answer
how you think best. However, some at least are likely
to be closed questions – ones which limit the range of
possible answers often either as “Yes” or a “no”. This
is fine where an unqualified “Yes” or “No” tells the whole
story, but if you feel that you need to qualify your answer
in any way (e.g. Yes but” “no except” or sometimes”) then
you should get the interviewer to ask you an open question
instead, or otherwise make it clear that an unqualified
answer will necessarily be incomplete or even misleading.
TESTING THE ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF YOUR
STATEMENT
When checking your statement you should actively test
its accuracy and reliability rather than just responding
to those passages which immediately strike you as wrong:-
- Are the particular incidents covered by the statement
placed in their proper context? For example, if the
statement says that the suspects told you something,
did they write, telephone or meet you specifically to
pass on this information, or was it just mentioned in
passing whilst some other matter was being discussed?
- How sure are you of the matters covered in your
statement? Are any uncertainties clearly indicated?
Has your recollection of events been influenced by what
other people told you at the time or by what you have
learnt subsequently?
- If the suspects have offered explanations of this
behaviour, then, leaving aside the question of whether
these explanations are true or not are they credible?
Think about the reasons for your answer to this question.
Are these reflected in the statement?
GIVING A BALANCED ACCOUNT
It is also important, that you ensure that the statement
taken as a whole gives a properly balanced account and
tells the whole story so far as it is known to you. In
any extreme case is it possible for every answer you give
to be true when taken in isolation? But the statement
produced from your answers must not be misleading because
parts of the story are missing or because too much-or
too little-emphasis is placed on a particular issue, After
checking that each individual answer or topic is accurate
and complete, you should consider the impact of the statement
as a whole.
- Does it provide a true and fair account overall?
- If some parts of the statement are damaging or
critical of the suspect and other parts are helpful
or supportive, is the balance between these parts right?
WHEN YOUR STATEMENT CANNOT TELL THE WHOLE
STORY
There may be some occasions where you are unable to
tell the whole story in your statement. This may happen
where:-
- You cannot remember what happened; or
- You are unable to distinguish between what you
remember and what you have learnt since.
Whilst your statement should always be as complete as
possible, the emphasis must be on accuracy and reliability.
However, it is essential that any gaps or deficiencies
in the Statement are clearly indicated as failure to do
so will in itself make the statement inaccurate or unreliable
or both.
RELEVANCE
It is the responsibility of the Commission to determine
the relevance of any material revealed to through the
investigative process and it is inappropriate for others
to make representations on this issue to him or otherwise
seek to influence the decision of the Commission. This
does not preclude discussions with a prosecutor to clarify
issues.
All employees have a general professional duty to reveal
to the Commission the existence of any information (including
documents) that they believe may be connected to the case
under investigation and to supply the Commission with
copies of any documents that he determines to be relevant.
PROTECTION
The Commission will ensure that any information you
disclose in good faith is protected. If you have provided
information to the Commission your identity will remain
confidential to the extent allowed by law, unless you
waive that right in writing.
Retaliation against employees acting in good faith by
making an unwarranted adverse change to their employment,
status, terms and conditions is prohibited.
Retaliation includes, but is not limited to
- Frequent and undesirable changes in work assigned.
- Refusal to assign meaningful work
- Unsubstantiated reprimand or unsatisfactory performance.
- Unjust denial of promotion
- Transfer or re-assignment
DISCOVERY OF INFORMATION AFTER A PROSECUTION HAS BEEN
CONCLUDED
Where new information comes to light after
a prosecution has been completed, you must notify the
Commission at once. This information may be required
for a fresh investigation.
THE
SIERRA LEONE ANTI CORRUPTION COMMISSION
3 Gloucester Street, Freetown Sierra Leone.
14a Lightfoot Boston Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
37 Kissy Town Road, Bo, Southern Province, Sierra Leone
Independence Square, Rogbaneh Road, Makeni, Sierra Leone
(operational in Jan. 2005)
Telephone:
+232-22-229984 or +232-22-227100 or +232-22-221701
Fax Number: +232-22-221900
Email: acc@sierratel.sl and info@anticorruption.sl
www.anticorruption.sl a------nd
www.anticorruptionsl.org
REPORT CENTRE TELEPHONE NUMBER: +232-22-223645
