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International investigative journalist Josef Skrdik, reporting for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), has disputed claims made by Sierra Leone’s First Lady Fatima Bio regarding a deadline to respond to his inquiries about her alleged involvement in corruption.
Skrdik’s rebuttal follows a video released by First Lady Bio, in which she presented an email dated April 16, 2025, purportedly from Skrdik. In the video, she stated that the email gave her a 24-hour ultimatum to answer questions or face publication of information about her.
She asserted that she did not respond as she had no explanation to provide and felt no obligation to do so.
Responding via a post on X (formerly Twitter), Skrdik stated, “Still dodging the questions. And no, @FirstLadyBio, you weren’t given 24 hours to respond. The email you shared, dated 16 April, clearly shows you were asked to reply by 25 April – that’s nine days. In the end, you had over three weeks, as we only published on 10 May.”
Previously, Skrdik’s investigation for OCCRP accused First Lady Bio and her family of possessing luxury properties in The Gambia.
The report raised questions about the origins of her wealth, citing property records, tax documents, and employment records that allegedly contradict claims of financial independence.
Tell that lying thing of a Journalist that he should go and kiss his bosses’ ass. Tell him that we know the game they are playing and that it’s an old format which no longer works on Africans. The minerals of this country should benefit the people of this country and not the other way around. That’s what the First Lady is fighting for and we stand with her firmly in this fight. All governments officials both previous and now have properties in different countries so this not new: we all know that. There is no single president that have ruled this country that doesn’t have properties elsewhere so the Bio family is not an exception. Even the president of the country of this stupid Journalist has properties elsewhere in the world so let him expose that too before coming to Sierra Leone.