By Mahmud Tim Kargbo
Friday, December 2025
It began with a silence so heavy it seemed to press against the walls. Citizens, chiefs, civil servants and political loyalists filled the hall expecting a routine presidential address. Instead, they witnessed an unprecedented moment in Sierra Leone’s political history.
President Julius Maada Bio stepped up to the podium with a countenance carved in steel. He did not greet the room. He did not warm the audience. He simply began.
When he accused Members of Parliament, judges, headmen and other influential figures of illegally selling state owned land in the Western Area, the hall transformed. The air shifted. The weight of his words fell like an object dropped from a great height.
Gasps.
Frozen faces.
A sea of eyes widened with fear, guilt or recognition.
It was as though the President had switched on a light in a long darkened room and revealed shapes that everyone had pretended not to see.
He had exposed the machinery of a crime far too entrenched, protected and profitable for the public to grasp. A criminal enterprise so sophisticated that even the Ministry tasked with defending the nation’s land had become one of its battlegrounds.
Within days of the President’s declaration, I launched my investigation. I expected resistance. Instead, I found something more disturbing: a trail of evidence pointing to a silent, organised and highly lucrative auction of the Western Area. The deeper I dug, the clearer the picture became. Land was not merely being stolen. Institutions were being captured. The future of the Western Area was being carved up like contraband.
This is the story of how Sierra Leone’s smallest region became the control centre of a vast land grabbing empire.
THE FIRST LEAD: A FORMER DIRECTOR BREAKS THE CODE OF SILENCE
My first major breakthrough came when a former Director of Lands, renowned for his institutional memory and long standing clashes with land cartels, agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
He did not hesitate.
“There is an underground conflict between the Ministry and a cartel of influential people who want to turn the Western Area into their private inheritance,” he said. “The Ministry is fighting with files. They are fighting with money, influence and protection from certain politicians, top civil servants and some key actors within the judiciary.”
His voice tightened.
“Their scamming net has widened. They operate openly and without fear. Once the Ministry challenges them, they secure elite lawyers and political protection from individuals in high office. If a case reaches court, they already know who to call.”
He continued.
“Many cases never reach court. They are strangled in corridors of power long before they are heard. Even the ones that do reach court often have outcomes predetermined.”
He then offered an assessment of significant importance.
“The current deplorable situation the President referred to can be resolved by the present administration. They have a Minister who understands investigations and a Director with decades of institutional knowledge. He knows the methods of land grabbers, how nonprofessional surveyors operate, how compromised insiders collaborate with powerful networks and how political and judicial protectors shield these cartels from consequences.”
He delivered a final warning.
“This is why the Ministry is under constant attack. Sensational headlines target the Minister and his loyal team to discredit them and secure victory for a select group who have lost their unmerited benefits. The Ministry is paying the price for finally resisting the old, corrupt order.”
THE WESTERN AREA: THE MOST PRIZED REAL ESTATE IN THE COUNTRY
To understand the ferocity of the criminal networks, one must first understand the battlefield. The Western Area is not merely a region. It is the political heart of Sierra Leone, the pulse point through which the country’s power, wealth and influence flow.
It contains:
- State House
- Parliament
- the Judiciary
- major embassies
- corporate headquarters
- the densest urban population
- the lowest supply of available land
In the Western Area, land is not simply soil and boundaries. It is currency. It is leverage. It is power.
THE MARKET OF DARKNESS: HOW ELITES PROFIT FROM STOLEN LAND
The land grabbing economy is highly structured. It is supported by some financiers, insiders, legal shields, top civil servants and political patrons.
THE FOOT SOLDIER: THE DECEPTION OF THE GRABBER
Citizens often see a young man erecting a zinc structure on state land and assume he is the thief.
He is not.
He is the pawn.
A senior official explained:
“In a fifty acre case, the grabber may receive five acres or less. The rest goes to politicians, judges, traditional authorities and senior civil servants.”
THE MYSTERY OF DUPLICATE LAND PLANS: A FORENSIC BREAKDOWN
A brown envelope arrived anonymously on my desk. Inside were dozens of land plans, many bearing identical Licence Surveyor numbers.
The Ministry does not issue duplicate numbers.
THE MINISTRY DOES NOT ISSUE DUPLICATE NUMBERS
Format: LSXXXX/25 denotes Licence Surveyor number XXXX for the year 2025.
Each number is unique.
Duplicate numbers indicate forgery.
THE FORGERY FACTORY
Analysis revealed an underground industry producing:
- repeated LS numbers
- backdated plans
- fabricated coordinates
- falsified signatures
- altered cadastral maps
- cloned layouts
- counterfeit Ministry stamps
A senior surveyor explained the scale of the operation.
INSIDER 2: THE JUDICIAL GATEKEEPER
A senior judicial employee, speaking anonymously, revealed how certain insiders enable land grabbers by delaying cases, dismissing matters on technicalities and issuing injunctions based on forged documents.
Once an injunction is issued, the Ministry is paralysed.
INSIDER 3: THE LAWYER
A lawyer with over two decades of experience described a layered network involving compromised judicial actors, community mobilisers, quack surveyors, business financiers and civil servants who leak documents.
THE COST: WHAT ORDINARY PEOPLE LOSE
Families lose savings.
Communities are displaced.
Violence erupts.
Fear spreads.
The victims are ordinary Sierra Leoneans.
THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION
Foreign actors are now involved. My investigation uncovered:
- foreign financed developers purchasing dubious titles
- diplomatic staff unknowingly buying stolen land
- offshore companies acting as fronts
- foreign speculators using local proxies
This expansion deepens the threat.
CLASSIFIED PROFILES: THE INVISIBLE ARCHITECTS
Category A: Political Kingmakers
Category B: Judicial Gatekeepers
Category C: Civil Service Technocrats
Category D: Traditional Authority Brokers
Together they sustain the shadow economy.
SPECIFIC CASE EXAMPLES (ANONYMISED BUT VERIFIED)
Case One: The Charlotte Disappearance
A large government plot earmarked for community development vanished after an injunction was granted to a claimant using a forged plan.
Case Two: The Double LS Number Scam
A major property at Hastings Congo Road was linked to LS [REDACTED]/99, a number originally issued for a small property elsewhere. One version was genuine and one forged. A civil servant suspected of leaking the template is now absent from duty.
Case Three: The Political Fortress
At Bonga Wharf, grabbers using political letters seized a vast government property. Prosecution attempts were halted by what officials described as orders from above.
THE EVIDENCE: WHAT COMES NEXT
I obtained lists of forged land plans containing repeated names, forged signatures and manipulated layouts. Some documents were falsely backdated to the 1950s.
In the next instalment, I will publish selected plans with forensic comparisons to official Ministry records.
This investigation is not closing.
It is widening.