The Department of State for Justice, through the office of the Attorney General’s Chambers, has reacted to a newspaper article published on the Daily Observer (Weekend Observer, January 9-11 2009) captioned: "As case files delay at attorney general’s chambers, magistrate expresses concern."

In a news release dispatched to the Daily Observer, the department stated that the case file of IGP vs Abdou Karim Conteh was forwarded to the Attorney General’s office on 3rd January, 2008. It states, however, that a legal opinion was then written and dispatched to the police on the 14th of March, 2008.

According to the release, the said legal opinion was to the effect that there is yet insufficient evidence in the file with which to charge the suspect, Abdou Karim Conteh, with murder.

The release further states some observations and certain recommendations were made for further investigations among which was the further explanation of the cause of death of the deceased and a conclusive nexus of the cause of the death to the suspect. It notes that the case file was only returned to the attorney general’s chambers on 29th December 2008, about nine months after opinion was dispatched.

Therefore, the release concludes, it is erroneous to blame the Attorney General’s Chambers for the delay, when in actual fact action was taken promptly by the Chambers.