Audit and official findings on Sierra Leone's airport bodies

Findings at a glance

This table lists official findings found for this page, with the date each report was sent or published ^1,23,45. Status shows whether a response is on record.

Sierra Leone Airports Authority

The Audit Service report on the 2020 accounts noted Le7 billion and Le4.9 billion given to the Airports Authority for staff salaries and aircraft rescue equipment ². The loans came from local commercial banks on Ministry of Finance comfort letters, and both figures were left out of the government's financial statements ². The graphic summary of that report said a Le4,071,900,000 Zenith Bank loan was taken without Ministry of Finance approval ⁶.

The Anti-Corruption Commission then investigated ⁴. It found the Zenith Bank loan of about EUR 407,190 paid for a rescue and firefighting vehicle and was fully repaid with interest ⁴. It found the Le7 billion government bailout for 2020 salaries and operations had not been repaid. A repayment agreement was dated 26 July 2020 ⁴. It said both funds were used for their intended purposes ⁴.

Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority

In the 2019 report, auditors found no evidence to confirm Le13.8 billion deposited into the Civil Aviation Authority account ¹. In the 2021 report, they could not verify Le41.13 billion of non-tax revenue disclosed for the Authority and got no management response during the audit ³. They raised it as an emphasis of matter and did not modify their opinion ³.

Older official findings concern safety oversight. SLCAA says an ICAO audit in May 2006 found Sierra Leone completely deficient in all eight critical elements audited ⁷. SLCAA's own reports on its response to the EU Air Safety List are covered on its page.

The Securiport fee and the 2026 special audit

On 3 July 2026 the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a notice suspending the US$25 Airport Security Fee from 6 July 2026, as reported by Premier Media ⁵. It gave as reasons a review of the contract framework and completion of an ongoing independent special audit by Audit Service Sierra Leone ⁵. The Ministry said the suspension does not end the Securiport contract ⁵.

On 20 June 2026 the Immigration Department's own Audit Committee inspected Securiport equipment at the airport and found it in good working order ⁹. No published result of the Audit Service special audit was found by 24 October 2026.

Gaps in this record

The Audit Service publishes annual reports on its website, which is the place to read them in full ¹. The public enterprise chapters of the 2022, 2023 and 2024 reports could not be read for this page, so findings in them on airport bodies are not listed. Public Accounts Committee reports on the Parliament website could not be opened. Press reports of later findings without a named reporter or date are not used here ¹.