The council of London’s Southwark borough has repossessed a subsidized flat from Fatima Bio, Sierra Leone’s first lady, following a 12-month investigation launched after OCCRP and The Times last year revealed she had kept her tenancy at the property even after moving to the presidential palace in her home country.
“I look forward to bringing this council property back to its original purpose which is to provide a safe and secure home for people with legitimate housing need on the council’s waiting list,” Councillor Reginald Popoola told OCCRP. He explained that the Southwark Council has been investigating all allegations of tenancy fraud and unlawful occupation and has recovered 107 properties in the last two years, including this one.
“This property will be swiftly allocated to a local family in genuine housing need,” he added.
The flat was given to Bio in 2007, when she lived in London while pursuing her Nollywood acting and modelling career. She lived there with her children until 2018, when her husband, Julius Maada Bio, became president of Sierra Leone.
The family moved to the presidential palace in Freetown. The luxury estate is equipped with a pool, a tennis court and a helipad.
Nevertheless, she kept the keys to the London flat. When OCCRP and The Times visited the property last year, they found mail addressed to the presidential couple piled up on the stairs.
“It’s great that this council home will now be available to someone living in Southwark who needs it. Anyone not living in a council home or renting it out is abusing a system,” said Neil Coyle, the MP who had previously called for an investigation into the tenancy.
“The government is trying to build more council homes for people who need them – not wives of presidents living in foreign palaces,” he added.
An investigation conducted by OCCRP showed that in 2020, the first lady, her mother and two half-brothers started acquiring luxury real estate in Gambia. By 2024, they bought at least 10 properties, including luxury villas, beachfront apartments and an entire apartment building.
Neither Bio nor her brothers explained how they financed the acquisitions, and OCCRP’s review of tax records, employment history, asset ownership records and other publicly available information did not reveal any plausible source of the funds.
The first lady has never responded to OCCRP’s requests for comment regarding the real estate acquisitions or the council flat tenancy, but in an interview given to the BBC last month, she refused to directly confirm or deny ownership of the Gambia properties. “I don’t have to deny it. I don’t have to acknowledge it,” she told the broadcaster, while insisting that her continued tenancy at the Southwark flat constituted “no crime.”
