As SLFA Denies Receiving Disbursed Amount… Ministry Of Sport, NSA Implicated In Missing Le6.1 Billion

Fingers are now pointing at the Ministry of Sports and National Sports Authority (NSA) in relation to the sum of over Le6.1 billion proceeds that was disbursed by the Ministry of Finance for the Leone Stars matches against Benin and Lesotho which remains unaccounted for.

This corruption scandal manifested when the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) in their press release responding to a release from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) maintained that the amount they requested for from the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Authority was far less than the amount that was disbursed by the Ministry of Finance.

“The Ministry of Finance wishes to inform the General Public that the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) has approved the disbursement of Le11,284,782,657 to the National Sports Authority (NSA) to facilitate Leone Stars’ participation in the two remaining qualifying football matches for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations against Lesotho and Benin on the 27^th and 30^th March 2021 respectively,” Ministry of Finance stated.

The release from Finance furthered that of the amount Le11.2 billion, the sum of over Le8.8 billion was paid to facilitate the match against Lesotho in Maseru on the 27^th March 2021 and that over Le2.4 as allowances to players for the match against Benin in Freetown.

“The SLFA would like to inform the public and the Ministry of Finance that at no point in time has the SLFA been made privy of the published amounts Le8,835,325,769 by neither National Sports Authority (NSA) or Ministry of Sports (MOS) despite several requests by SLFA officials,” the SLFA clarified.

The SLFA also maintained that the sums published in the release of the Ministry of Finance did not reflect the budget they presented to the Sports Ministry and NSA.

“Contrary to the Ministry of Finance approved amount of Le8,835,325,769, the FA can confirm that it’s officially requested from the NSA/MOS the sum of Le1,923,750,000 (One Billion, Nine Hundred and Twenty-Three Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Leones) for the Lesotho vs Leone Stars match in Maseru,” SLFA stated.