By Mahmud Tim Kargbo
In the heart of Kono, Sierra Leone’s diamond-rich eastern district, a web of offshore secrecy and governmental indifference has enabled a Guernsey-registered entity, Octea Limited, to seize control of a lucrative mining agreement signed fifteen years before its own incorporation. This investigation exposes the legal loopholes, corporate concealment, and political complicity that have allowed a foreign enterprise to siphon Sierra Leone’s mineral wealth without parliamentary approval, transparency, or accountability.
Octea: A New Mask for an Old Exploiter
Octea Limited was incorporated on 8 March 2012 in Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency long known for its corporate secrecy. Despite this recent origin, Octea claims ownership and operational control of the Koidu Kimberlite Project, a mining lease originally granted to Koidu Holdings S.A., a British Virgin Islands-registered company, under a Mining Lease Agreement signed with the Government of Sierra Leone on 25 October 2002. The contradiction between these dates raises a serious legal question: how can a company that did not exist in 2002 become the operational beneficiary of an agreement it neither negotiated nor inherited through any constitutionally approved mechanism?
A Timeline of Deception: The Corporate Shell Game
On 25 October 2002, the Government of Sierra Leone signed a Mining Lease Agreement with Koidu Holdings S.A., a British Virgin Islands-registered firm. Between 2003 and 2007, Koidu Holdings began operations in Kono, where local protests erupted over environmental degradation, forced displacement, and unpaid compensation. On 8 March 2012, Octea Limited was registered in Guernsey and later assumed operational control of the Koidu Project without any public ratification by Parliament. In 2013, Octea was absorbed into Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), an international mining conglomerate under criminal investigation. In 2014, Reuters and The Economist exposed BSGR’s corrupt mining deals in Guinea, which were subsequently annulled following bribery allegations (Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/bsgr-guinea-idUSL6N0N93AM20140415; The Economist: https://www.economist.com/business/2014/03/15/the-battle-for-guinea). In 2016, Koidu City Council filed a lawsuit against Octea for unpaid property taxes. The High Court of Sierra Leone dismissed the case, declaring Octea a non-holder of any mining lease, thereby exposing its legal fiction.
Violations of Law and the Erosion of Sovereignty
Octea’s ongoing operations openly defy Sierra Leone’s constitutional and statutory framework. According to Section 118(4) of the 1991 Constitution: “No loan, guarantee or other financial obligation shall be entered into by the Government or any public institution except with the approval of Parliament.” (https://parliament.gov.sl). Additionally, Section 40(4)(d) provides: “The President shall negotiate and sign treaties, agreements or conventions in the name of the Republic, and subject to ratification by Parliament.” (https://parliament.gov.sl). There is no evidence that Octea was included in the 2002 Mining Lease Agreement or in any subsequent parliamentary ratification. Its current control over Sierra Leone’s mineral assets is therefore not only illegitimate but also unconstitutional.
Offshore Empires and the BSGR Connection
Evidence from the Panama Papers and investigations by Global Witness confirm that Octea is nothing more than a shell company, with no physical operational footprint in Sierra Leone. Its sole function appears to be the extraction and diversion of mineral wealth from Kono to offshore tax havens. A 2013 BSGR company filing describes Octea as holding “all Sierra Leone diamond interests.” Beny Steinmetz, the Israeli billionaire behind BSGR, was sentenced in 2021 by a Swiss court to five years’ imprisonment for bribery linked to iron ore concessions in Guinea (Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/bsgr-guinea-idUSL6N0N93AM20140415). Global Witness has repeatedly warned of BSGR’s opaque business structures and its use of shell companies such as Octea to evade public scrutiny and taxation (Global Witness: https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/oil-gas-and-mining/koidu-holdings/).
The Branding Deception: A Case of Corporate Impersonation
Further investigation reveals that Octea Limited has no official or registered logo on record with the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (http//: www.gfsc.gg) or any other corporate registry. The company has never maintained a public website, trademark registration, or branding identity, consistent with its classification as a shell entity. Instead of using its parent company’s insignia, the blue and white BSGR corporate logo, a minimalist mark displaying the letters “BSGR” in serif type beneath a stylised blue diamond motif, Octea Limited has been using the official Koidu Holdings S.A. logo in its correspondence and documentation.
Koidu Holdings was the first company to operate in Sierra Leone’s diamond sector under a lawful Mining Lease Agreement (http//: www.slminerals.gov.sl). Years later, Octea Limited was introduced covertly, bypassing the country’s legal framework and claiming to have assumed the operations of Koidu Holdings. Both entities thus operated within the same jurisdiction but with different legal mandates: Koidu Holdings as the original lessee, and Octea as an unratified successor seeking to exploit that legitimacy.
By using the Koidu Holdings logo, Octea Limited not only misrepresents its corporate identity but also deliberately blurs the legal distinction between the two entities. Koidu Holdings S.A. and Octea Limited are separate companies incorporated in the same jurisdiction at different times and under different regulatory obligations (http//: www.gfsc.gg). Octea’s appropriation of Koidu Holdings’ logo constitutes a calculated act of corporate impersonation designed to fabricate continuity and conceal the absence of any legitimate transfer of rights.
This act breaches both national and international law. Under Section 3(1)(b) of the Sierra Leone Trade Marks Act 2014, it is unlawful for any entity to use a mark that is “identical or confusingly similar to a registered trade mark belonging to another person in a manner likely to mislead or deceive the public” (http//: www.slp.gov.sl). Furthermore, Article 10bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property prohibits any act of “unfair competition” including the use of another entity’s name or insignia in a way that could mislead consumers or partners about a company’s identity or legitimacy (http//: www.wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/288514).
Additionally, Section 53 of the Companies Act 2009 (Sierra Leone) requires every company to operate under its registered name and authentic insignia in all formal transactions and public communications (http//: www.slppa.gov.sl). Octea’s continued use of Koidu Holdings’ logo, despite being a different legal entity, constitutes a violation of corporate transparency and a deceptive practice intended to maintain the illusion of legitimacy.
This branding deception is more than a cosmetic fraud; it symbolises the structural manipulation at the heart of Sierra Leone’s diamond sector. By mimicking Koidu Holdings, Octea cloaked itself in the reputation of a once-recognised operator while continuing to divert wealth offshore under a false identity (http//: www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/oil-gas-and-mining/koidu-holdings/).
Political Silence: Negligence or Elite Collusion?
Internal documents from both the All People’s Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) reveal that senior government officials were fully aware of Octea’s questionable legal status. Yet successive administrations, from the APC’s Ernest Bai Koroma to the SLPP’s Julius Maada Bio, have failed to enforce the Mines and Minerals Act of 2009, which clearly states: “No mineral right shall be assigned or transferred without the prior written consent of the Minister. Every such assignment shall be published in the Gazette.” (https://slminerals.gov.sl). To date, there is no Gazette notice or parliamentary record confirming any legal transfer from Koidu Holdings to Octea. The silence is not one of ignorance; it is one of complicity.
Despite its diamond wealth, Kono District remains among Sierra Leone’s most deprived regions. Its communities lack clean water, electricity, and proper housing, conditions well documented by Oxfam and Human Rights Watch (Oxfam: https://oxfam.org/en/countries/sierra-leone). Saa Kpakima, a displaced resident and local activist, voiced the frustration of many: “We were moved like animals from our homes, with promises of jobs and development. But look at us now. Octea took the diamonds and left us with dust and despair.”
A Case for Justice: The Nation Demands Answers
Legal experts, including Charles Margai, have characterised Octea’s position as a fraudulent usurpation of state resources. A full and independent Commission of Inquiry must be convened to determine whether a valid legal transfer exists between Koidu Holdings and Octea, whether Parliament ever ratified such a transfer, why the Ministry of Mines failed to publish the assignment in the Gazette, the environmental and financial damage left by Octea, and the broader constitutional implications of allowing unregulated foreign entities to exploit national assets. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ratified by Sierra Leone, mandates: “States shall undertake to eliminate all forms of foreign economic exploitation, particularly that practised by international monopolies.” (https://au.int/en/treaties/african-charter-human-and-peoples-rights). Yet Octea remains untouched, its operations protected by a fortress of legal fictions, foreign law firms, and domestic inertia.
The Diamonds Belong to the People
It is time for Parliament to act. Sierra Leone’s sovereignty is not a footnote in a corporate ledger; it is a constitutional principle. No foreign company, no offshore entity, and no compromised official has the authority to subvert the will of the people. As affirmed in the 1991 Constitution: “Sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone from whom Government through this Constitution derives all its powers, authority and legitimacy.” (https://parliament.gov.sl). Let us reclaim what is ours. The diamonds of Kono must serve the people of Sierra Leone, not enrich faceless financiers in Guernsey and Geneva.
Let the truth shine brighter than the diamonds they steal.
References:
Sierra Leone Constitution (1991): https://parliament.gov.sl. Mines and Minerals Act (2009): https://slminerals.gov.sl. Guernsey Financial Services Registry (Octea Limited): https://www.gfsc.gg. Panama Papers, ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org. Reuters on BSGR and Beny Steinmetz: https://www.reuters.com/article/bsgr-guinea-idUSL6N0N93AM20140415. Global Witness report on Koidu Holdings and Octea: https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/oil-gas-and-mining/koidu-holdings/. Oxfam report on Sierra Leone: https://oxfam.org/en/countries/sierra-leone. The Economist article on Guinea and BSGR: https://www.economist.com/business/2014/03/15/the-battle-for-guinea. African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: https://au.int/en/treaties/african-charter-human-and-peoples-rights.
