WAS IT A CHEQUE OR WAS IT A BANKERS DRAFT - WHO CARES- JUST PAY BACK THE US$210,000 TO THE STATE
."......the matter was settled extra-judicially by way of an agreement between the
parties. Under that agreement I was required to pay immediately
US$105,000, being one-half of the total monies I received from a Mr. Frank Yiu,........."- Dr Abass Cherenor Bundu
****************************************************
"Information at my disposal points to the fact that the cheque aforesaid was subsequently dishonoured upon instructions of the accused, Abass Bundu. I am also led to believe that the second tranche was likewise not paid, meaning that no payment of any part of the money was ever made” The letter states and went on, “Consequent upon the foregoing, Government proposes to institute both criminal and civil proceedings in court against the said Abass Bundu…A charge of conspiracy to defraud the Government of Sierra Leone is highly contemplated"...............Attorney General
After reading the bold Press statement by Dr Abass Cherenor Bundu, my mind buggles with a few questions regarding the "BOUNCED cheque (which he claimed did not materilised and yet the letter from the Artoney General mentioned it did) and the "Bankers Draft which Abass claimed was used to pay the US$105,000 (and yet the Artoney General's letter states that NOTHING was paid to the Government.) WHERE DOSE THE TRUTH LIE?
QUESTIONS:
DID ABASS BUNDU HAVE IN HIS BANK BALANCE AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME - US$105,000?
DID ABBASS ISSUE HIS PERSONAL CHEQUE, TO THE COURT (MAYBE THROUGH HIS THEN LAWYERS - (RENNER THOMAS &CO) TO GET THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN PLACE, KNOWING HE HAD NO SUCH AMOUNT IN HIS BANK, BUT TO BUY TIME TO HUSSELL FOR THE CASH AND MAKE GOOD THE SETTLEMENT OF THIS IMMEDIATE BILL.(Remember! Abass was required to
PAY IMMEDIATLY.)
The[Attorney General's letter to Renner Thomas &Co]
letter dated 27th March, 2012 reads “…You would also recall forwarding a cheque for the sum of US$105,000.00 (One Hundred and Five Thousand United States Dollars) to my office on behalf of the said Abass Bundu as part payment of the sum of US$210,000.00 (Two Hundred and Ten Thousand Dollars) in full settlement of the matter]
HAVING GOT THE AGREEMENT IN PLACE,
DID ABASS STOP THE INITIAL CHEQUE FOR US$105,000 THAT WAS PAID TO THE COURT SO HE CAN FIND THE CASH AND PAY IT IN LIEU?
(THE ARTONEY GENERAL'S LETTER STATED THE CHEQUED WAS "BOUNCED" I. E. DISHONOURED BY THE BANK "ON THE INSTRCTIONS OF THE ACCUSED ABASS BUNDU.)
HAVING THEN FOUND THE MONEY, (ABASS CLAIMED IN HIS PRESS CONFERENCE THAT A BANKERS DRAFT WAS THE INSTRUMENT OF PAYMENT OF THE REQUIRED US$105,000) DID ABASS THEN PURCHASED THIS BANKERS DRAFT WITH THE CASH 'OVERTHE COUNTER' ? OR, DID HE PAY THAT NEW MONEY INTO HIS BANK ACCOUNT TO ENABLE THE EQUIVILENT SUM TO BE DEBITED AND THE BANKERS DRAFT ISSUED -MAKING IT LOOK LIKE EVERY THING CAME THROUGH THE ACCOUNT?
IF CASH WAS PAID IN LIEU, FOR THE PURCHASE OF THE BANKERS DRAFT, THE TRANSACTION WILL NOT BE RECORDED IN THE ACCOUNT. IF HOWEVER THE INITIAL CHEQUE WAS RETURNED UNPAID, I.E. "BOUNCED" THIS CAN CLEARLY BE REFLECTED IN THE ACCOUNT.
ABASS CLAIMED IN HIS PRESS CONFERENCE..:
"...In the
circumstances, therefore, I had no choice but to pay under protest. The letter
from my Solicitors, dated 12 September 1996, which accompanied the payment, made
the point that I had agreed to pay only to underscore the contention that I had
had absolutely no criminal intent whatsoever in all my dealings, official or
private, with Mr. Frank Yiu.
Upon this
understanding the Government duly received, by way of a Bank Draft, the sum of
US$105,000. So, again, contrary to widespread speculation in the Press, I did
not issue a personal cheque to the Government which subsequently bounced..."
Artoney General says
"...
Information at my disposal points to the fact that the cheque aforesaid was subsequently dishonoured upon instructions of the accused, Abass Bundu."
IT WOULD APPEAR THAT A CHEQUE WAS ISSUED, THEN STOPPED, TO BE REPLACED BY A BANKERS DRAFT WHICH WAS NOT PRESENTED FOR PAYMENT OR A DEAL WAS REACHED IN SOME WAY RESULTING IN THE FACT THAT NOTHING WAS ACTUALLY PAID IN SETTLEMENT OF THGE US $ 210,000.
IF A BANKERS DRAFT WAS ISSUED , PRESENTED AND CLEARED, THE RECORDS OF THE BANK, THE COURT RECORDS , ABASS'S ACCOUNT & BANK STATEMENTS ARE ALL TO BE EXAMINED
ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, THIS CAN EASILY BE VERIFIED AND CLARIFIED - FIND THE CLEARED BANKERS DRAFT.
PLEASE CLICK AND READ THE TWO LINKS BELOW
:
http://www.sierraconnection.com/
http://standardtimespress.org/?p=1867
http://news.sl/drwebsite/exec/view.cgi?archive=2&num=1123
*
*******************************************************************************
06/04/2012
SO The payment was by a personal cheque. Is ABASS A LIER AS WELL?
Update from Standar Times
PLEASE ENJOY THIS
Whether it was a plea-bargain or for political reason Dr.
Bundu must explain
Mr. Kalilu .I. Totangi should not have been the right person to defend the
Passport Mafia, Dr. Abass Bundu. Whatever syllogism or hypothetical statement he
uses or legal loophole to save the skin of his counterpart he would not win. Of
course, one would understand why Kalilu .I.Totangi is playing the role of a
Defence Attorney on the platform of the “Pious Foray Court” that is appreciated
by less than five hundred readers, which does not go beyond Waterloo where Pious
Foray has opened another Cookery Shop to attract young girls along the New
Freetown-Waterloo Road.
For those who may know the author of that piece ‘Beware The Antics of Yellow
Journalists And Their Desperate Political Paymasters” published in the Democrat
of 2
nd April, 2012 edition on page 6 he is not different from Dr.
Abass Bundu in a number of ways. Journalists who went through the funded UNDP
Communication Strategy Training to become Information Officers can still
recalled how funds provided by UNDP was embezzled, misappropriated and wrongly
utilized by Kalilu .I.Totangi when he was in charge of the programme. The
unfortunate situation and unpatriotic action of this individual who ran away
from the United States of America caused the collapse of such a brilliant and
rewarding programme. Those Journalists who should have benefitted from the
programme ended up being displaced and unemployed.
This is the Defence Attorney of Dr Abass Bundu, as the saying goes “Anvil of
identical plumage converge excessively” Since he was shown the exit doors of the
Ministry of Information and Communication during the tenure of Professor
Septimus Kaikai, even Hon. I.B.Kargbo has refused to countenance his talent or
contribution to any donor funded project for fear that history will repeat
itself. “It was the same antics that were applied in 2007, when a notorious
blackmail journalist published a lie that the Government of Tejan Kabbah had
sold Libyan rice and pocketed the money…” wrote Kalilu I.Totangi the embezzler
of donor fund. Perhaps, additional information about the Libyan rice would keep
him quiet and come to the realization that “There are Journalists and there are
Journalists’ the other shipload of Libyan rice was sold in Ghana and bought by a
very wealthy Lebanese Businessman (name withheld), who was a close friend of
ex-President Tejan Kabbah. This Lebanese businessman owns huge buildings in
Freetown- Sierra Leone and one of it was bought by NASSIT that is currently
utilized by the institution as its Head Office.
The Libyan rice is now history, but if Kalilu I.Totangi wants it discussed
for the second time it would not be to his advantage or his political party.
There are pieces of evidence in the possession of this press, which are very
pertinent to the story. Evidence bearing the signature of the former Attorney
General, Mr. Fred Carew who forced a retraction to be published with threat of
sending the editorial team to jail if the condition is not fulfilled is still
available with this press. Coming to the Dr. Abass Bundu Passport case that is
hanging over his head, Kalilu I.Totangi whose new role is a self appointed
Defence Attorney has failed to recognize the fact that it is not a hard and fast
rule for the action of one government to be complied by the other.
If Dr. Abass
Bundu was absolved of any wrong doing by the Kabbah-led SLPP government why was
he not acquitted and discharged and a certificate issued to him by the Court? At
the Criminal Investigation Department(CID) where statement was obtained from him
two days back
he admitted receiving money from Frank Yiu and claimed that it was
a personal donation to his electioneering campaign, which sounds ridiculous and
a provocation to the intelligence of Sierra Leoneans.
He told Detectives that he was acquitted in the matter. Acquittal alone is
not sufficient to walk the streets of Freetown as a free man or a discharge.
Both should be secured in any criminal matter, therefore
if Dr. Abass Bundu has
confirmed that he was only discharged from court, which means that he could be
called upon again when fresh evidence emerges.
A plea-bargain; which Dr. Abass Bundu fully knows about is a guilty verdict.
What it does, is that
it prevents the herculean task of going into a full blown
trial, but does not exclude the penalty and punishment, because it takes into
account time, Judges and Magistrates could be lenient. It is an out of Court
arrangement between the Prosecutor and Defence on behalf of a client. Dr. Abass
Bundu may have entered into a plea bargain with the then Attorney General and
Minister of Justice, Hon. Solomon Ekuma Berewa, or his lawyers did that on his
behalf and agreed to refund monies collected from Frank Yiu. This was done
against the background of not going to the open Court to be prosecuted, where
evidence would be adduced in Court. It is not known what the line of argument or
defence is, by the self appointed Defence Attorney. The action of Government is
neither a witch-hunt nor a political victimization, but a demand to account of
his stewardship regarding those Passports he collected monies from the appointed
agent that he should refund to the people and Government what rightly belongs to
them.
It is absurd for Kalilu I.Totangi to make a “no case submission” on behalf of
Dr. Abass Bundu when he knows that there are substantial and circumstantial
evidence against him.
Regarding the payment of US$105,000 that he argued was
honoured by a bank draft. It would surprise him to know that it was not a bank
draft but a cheque that should be withdrawn from his London Bank Account. A copy
of the Cheque was shown to Journalists at the office of the then Attorney
General and Minister of Justice during a Press Conference when Hon. Solomon
Berewa told Pressmen that Dr. Bundu has given an indication to pay and produced
a copy of the Cheque that he paid to Government. One weighs the argument of
Kalilu I.Totangi as fluid and lacks the ingredients of a good Defence Attorney.
He will have to hold further consultations with his client, if he is to pursue
the matter, if not he would end up crashing at the wide gates of the Law Court
Building when the matter kicks up for hearing.
The letter from the late Fred Carew that Kalilu I.Totangi is waving on the
faces of those who are not aufait with the procedures of criminal cases and also
which he himself cannot fully comprehend and assimilate did not state that the
matter has been nullified. In another words, the letter is not a nolle prosequi,
which powers rest in the hands of the Attorney General or the Director of Public
Prosecution (DPP), even with that; an incoming Government has the power to
recommence proceedings if it choose to do so pending the gravity of evidence
available.
