Omanghana
A hold on €18 million in European Union budget support to Sierra Leone has triggered conflicting explanations, with the Netherlands linking it to a fugitive drug trafficker while Sierra Leone and an EU commissioner cite administrative and technical reasons.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said the funding had been suspended to pressure Sierra Leone to arrest and extradite Jos Leijdekkers, also known as “Bolle Jos”. He warned that a further €22.5 million planned for 2027 could be withheld if cooperation remained inadequate.
Sierra Leone’s Information Minister Chernor Bah rejected that explanation. He said the European Commission had communicated the postponement in July, citing procedural difficulties involving amendments to a financing agreement.
According to the government, the proposed revised schedule would move the 2026 payment to 2027 and the following year’s disbursement to 2028. Bah maintained that describing the delay as punishment over an individual case misrepresented the reasons formally provided to Sierra Leone.
EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner also attributed the funding hold to technical reasons. Speaking in Luxembourg, he separately expressed concern about drug trafficking and organised crime in Sierra Leone, distinguishing those concerns from the explanation for the delayed support.
Leijdekkers, a Dutch national and one of Europe’s most-wanted fugitives, was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison in the Netherlands for smuggling more than seven tones of cocaine. He has also received sentences totaling about 100 years across several Belgian cases, Reuters reported.
Dutch authorities have sought his extradition amid reports that he has been living in Sierra Leone under high-level protection since at least 2023.
The conflicting official accounts leave the reason for the funding hold contested, even as the Netherlands continues pressing for action against the fugitive.
Source: Omanghana
