Sierra Leone's Parliament removed the independent Auditor-General after a presidential tribunal; global audit bodies warned the process threatened audit independence.
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What happened
President Julius Maada Bio suspended Auditor-General Lara Taylor-Pearce and her deputy Tamba Momoh in November 2021 and convened a tribunal on alleged professional misconduct. Bio accepted the tribunal's recommendation, and on December 20, 2024 Parliament voted 100 to 36 (reported as two-thirds of the 136 members present) to remove both officials, with the opposition arguing the process was rushed, many MPs were abroad, and calculating two-thirds on members present was unprecedented. INTOSAI's General Secretariat and IDI said the removal process threatens the independence of Sierra Leone's supreme audit institution and called for the allegations and the tribunal's report to be made public. Opposition MPs and civic groups say independent bodies found no evidence of misconduct; the sources reviewed do not themselves report such a finding, and the tribunal's report recommended removal.
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