By Edward Marah
A community bank is a depository or lending institution that primarily serves businesses and individuals in a small geographic area. Community banks tend to emphasize personal relationships with their customers.
As a professional institution, the bank is supposed to be an institution that not only manages customers’ monies but also protects the interest of the customer secrecy.
Sadly, for the Kabala Community Bank unprofessionalism, unethical behaviour and politics have taken the operations of the bank where some customers’ privacy and secrecy are no longer protected as some of the staff and board members are using the bank to expose some customers’ privacy because they have a personal grudge, hate, jealousy and political anger against such customers.
A case in point is that of a certain board member of the bank Mr Joryor Barrie who recently posted on social media about a renowned business tycoon and philanthropist Mr Alimu Sanu Barrie. The post stated, “Alimu Sanu Barrie Chairman and CEO of PAVI FORT Civil Engineering Company, U Complain don meet we from the Kabala Community Bank Try go settle with the bank. The people of Kabala are ready suffering because of your actions. Details coming out soonest @ Tiger”.
The post is not only baseless as it has been debunked by Mr Alimu Sanu Barrie but was designed to defame him and make him look bad in the eyes of the public.
If a customer owes a bank does the bank have the right to go on social media to recover its loan? Or was it a mere strategy to blackmail a man who has invested so much into the bank as he had bailout the bank on many occasions through his deposit, or was it because a certain individual had a personal issue with him? This is bad for the banking profession.
The unprofessionalism and unethical behaviour of the Kabala Community Bank manager and some of its board members should be brought to book by the central bank as this is not the first time the bank’s unprofessionalism is been challenged by some customers.
Recently an internal audit review has uncovered fraudulent activities involving Kabala Community Bank, Edward Davies and Associates Ltd, a Consultancy Firm engaged by the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) for work on the Kenema-Pendembu Road project and some staff of the Ministry of Finance where payments totalling Le 6.5 billion (Old Leones) were diverted to a fictitious account at the Kabala Community Bank, instead of the legitimate account at Rokel Commercial Bank.
Some of the prime suspects namely Jacob Tenga Sessie Deputy Director of Budget, MoF, Emmanuel Smart Accounting Officer, SLRA, Starlyn Kemoh Accountant, AGD, Ibrahim Bangura Senior Accountant, AGD, John Ellie Principal Accountant, AGD, Joseph Johnson Accountant, AGD and Philip Yomba Senior Accountant, AGD were arrested which according to an independent investigation they suspect where operating a scheme known as “recycled payment.”, in connivance with Kabala Community Bank.
As investigations are ongoing, the Kabala Community Bank manager and team should be also investigated.
It is reported that the Central Bank as a part of its immediate actions as the investigation progresses into recycled payment of Le 6.5 billion (Old Leones) to Kabala Community Bank is allegedly reported to have withdrawn its colleterial from the Bank which has rendered the bank into bankruptcy and some customers are now running after the bank for their monies.
There is a need for an overhaul of the entire management of the Kabala Community Bank, as professionalism and ethics have been thrown into the dustbin while politics has taken centre stage in the operations of the bank.
Read more in our next edition on how some of the bank board members are running a parallel banking system to enrich themselves.