What you need to Know:
- Since becoming Sierra Leone’s first lady, Fatima Bio has bought four properties in Gambia, while a $500,000 villa was purchased in her mother’s name.
- Fatima Bio’s half-brothers have also purchased Gambian properties, bringing the relatives’ spending to a total of at least $2.1 million on at least ten real estate transactions carried out between 2020 and 2024.
- Documents show a top Sierra Leone government contractor signed key paperwork for three of the properties, including the villa owned by the first lady’s mother. When reached for comment, he denied any involvement in the purchases.
- The first family did not respond to questions about who paid for the real estate or the source of the funds.
- Tax records, employment history, asset ownership records, and other publicly available information suggest that Fatima Bio, her mother, and her half-brothers had modest means prior to her becoming first lady.
By James O’Brien/OCCRP | 10 May 2025
On a grey September day in 2016, a Sierra Leone opposition politician and his wife threw a first birthday party for their daughter in the modest courtyard outside their subsidized rental flat in South London.
Within less than two years, the couple’s lives would change dramatically. In April 2018, Julius Maada Bio won his second bid for the Sierra Leonean presidency, and the family moved into the luxury of the State Lodge in the capital Freetown.
Now that she was first lady, Fatima Bio left behind a career in Nollywood, the West African film industry, and launched a global campaign against child marriage and sexual violence. She and three of her relatives also appear to have gone on a buying spree.
Sale records and other documents obtained by OCCRP show that between May 2022 and February 2024, Fatima Bio acquired two villas, an apartment building, and a flat in Gambia — a country 1,000 kilometers up the Atlantic coast where she previously lived. Her mother is also listed as the owner of a luxury villa that was purchased for half a million dollars in the same time frame, while Fatima Bio’s two half-brothers either snapped up properties or were able to begin construction on land that had lain undeveloped for almost two decades.
According to Gambian property and tax records, Fatima Bio and her relatives spent just over $2.1 million on at least 10 properties, almost all of which are located in affluent neighborhoods and tourist hotspots. On top of this came construction costs, including for a large hotel that is being developed by one of Fatima Bio’s half-brothers.
Gambian Properties Purchased by Jabbe-Bio and Her Relatives Between 2020 and 2024
The sales records also revealed that properties registered in the names of Fatima Bio and her mother were purchased with the help of an individual named Alphonso Lakhmee King. He signed as a witness on documents for three of the properties, and is listed as having paid the stamp duty tax on the villa belonging to Fatima Bio’s mother.
Reporters found that King has attended numerous events with the first family and was one of the country’s top five government contractors in 2019 — the most recent year that public procurement reports have been published. Sierra Leone’s National Public Procurement Authority confirmed that his company continues to do business with various government bodies, though it did not provide further details.
In a brief phone conversation with OCCRP, King denied assisting with or paying for any of the first lady’s Gambian property purchases. When asked about his company’s contracts with the Sierra Leone government, he said, “I don’t know about that,” and hung up.
OCCRP reviewed Fatima Bio and her relatives’ tax records, employment history, asset ownership, and publicly available information about their lifestyles and could not find evidence of the kind of wealth needed to buy and develop their new real estate holdings, raising questions about the origin of the funds.
Fatima Bio and her husband — who as president is barred from holding other positions that generate private income — did not respond to detailed questions, including about the source of the money used for the new properties.
One of Fatima Bio’s half-brothers, Abdoul Mois Darboe, told OCCRP that his recent property acquisitions and projects, which include the development of a hotel and the purchase of two apartments in high-end coastal estates, had been “self-funded” from his company’s construction work. However, his tax records contained no sign of the revenue these construction projects may have generated.
Fatima Bio’s mother and her other half-brother did not respond to requests for comment.
Julius Maada Bio, who played a key role in Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s, came to power amid frustration with the perceived mismanagement of the country under his predecessor Ernest Bai Koroma, who had been in power for 10 years. As president, Bio has declared the fight against corruption to be one of his top priorities.
However, watchdog organizations like Transparency International say that corruption has remained a major challenge under his administration, with weak checks on the executive office, low levels of transparency, and several documented cases in recent years of large-scale embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds.
First Lady’s Online Video Triggers Controversy Over Wanted Drug Trafficker
A recent social media video posted by Fatima Bio showing her family in the company of Dutch cocaine kingpin Jos Leijdekkers has contributed to an international law enforcement controversy, as Dutch authorities seek the extradition of the fugitive from Sierra Leone, where he is believed to be sheltering.
Multiple online videos and social media posts, including the one posted by Fatima Bio herself, have shown Leijdekkers — one of the European Union’s most wanted fugitives — at church and other public events with the first family, even after he was sentenced in absentia to 24 years by a Dutch court in June 2024 for armed robbery, ordering an assassination, and smuggling seven tonnes of cocaine.
The presidential couple did not respond to questions about any relationship Leijdekkers might have with their family. In January, Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Information issued a statement saying, “The president has no knowledge of the identity and issues detailed in the reports about the individual in question.”
On February 6, Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said that his country had submitted an extradition request for Leijdekkers to Sierra Leonean authorities. The following month, Sierra Leone’s Attorney General Alpha Sesay said the extradition request was under review, while a police investigation was ongoing.
In the ‘Beverly Hills’ of Gambia
Upon entering Gambia’s Brufut Heights — an exclusive neighborhood on the Atlantic coast lined with the villas of diplomats and businessmen — one structure stands out above the rest.
Behind a high concrete wall, the glazed white villa supports a wrap-around terrace overlooking a pool and, beyond, the ocean.
Nearby, a second white villa, built in a modernist style, is almost hidden from public view by its exterior wall and the surrounding jungle. The building is layered into multiple terraces, with an L-shaped pool, additional guesthouse, and spacious garden.
The owners listed for the two properties on first sight bear no obvious relation to the first lady of Sierra Leone. The first villa is registered as having been bought by one Yusupha Darboe in October 2020, with a stamp duty payment indicating a purchase price of just over $230,000, after which it was renovated and enlarged. The second villa was acquired by Tidankay Darboe in May 2022, for half a million dollars, according to sales records.
Yet social media posts reveal these two people are connected to Fatima Bio, with numerous images and descriptions posted by relatives indicating that Yusupha Darboe is the first lady’s half-brother, and Tidankay is her mother, who now uses the surname — Darboe — of her second husband.
Images shared on social media also show that Fatima Bio and her relatives have made use of the second villa registered in her mother’s name.
