Former Minister Sent To Jail For Diamond Possession

Sierra Leone's former transport minister, Momoh Pujeh, was sentenced to two years jail time for illegal possession of diamonds. After the International Crisis Group said the government was not doing enough to fight corruption, the trial was widely viewed as a test case of the willingness to fight corruption.

The illegal diamond possession charge was one of several charges of corruption that were later dropped. After begging for mercy from the court, Pujeh was led to the Freetown prison.

The International Crisis Group, a Brussels think tank, says in its report “Sierra Leone: Security and Governance” published September 2, that the country’s diamond mines remain poorly monitored with illegal mining and smuggling still estimated to produce hundreds of millions of dollars that are unaccounted for and unavailable to help rebuild the economy.