Contrary to reports, former Ombudsman of Sierra Leone, Francis Gabbidon is in town and would be presenting himself to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) today, according to his words.

"I did not show up on Friday because they wanted to arrest me unnecessarily. I am in town and I will not go anywhere. I will surrender myself on Monday," he told Concord Times on Saturday.

The former Ombudsman was earlier reported to be on the run after failing to appear in court to defend a 168-count indictment by ACC for the offence of misappropriating public funds while in office.

Gabbidon was alleged to have misappropriated public funds entrusted to him by falsely representing that certain individuals were employed by the Office of the Ombudsman in various capacities between 2001 and 2007, says ACC.

The legal luminary was first arrested on Thursday April 17 2008 by the police on the orders of ACC to answer charges of misappropriation of public funds during his five years of stewardship.

However, a release from ACC dated 11th July 2008 stated that a bench warrant for Gabbidon's arrest for prosecution has been successfully applied for and the police, immigration and Office of National Security have been alerted of his unknown location.

Gabbidon was supposed to be arraigned before Justice M.M. Sey on July 11 but ACC says his whereabouts has been unknown since the afternoon of Thursday 10 July 2008.

Gabbidon was appointed as Sierra Leone's first Ombudsman in 2000 by the outgone Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) government.

His recent indictment did not come as a surprise to many Sierra Leoneans especially as findings of a Transitional Management Team, set up by President Ernest Bai Koroma to investigate all government parastatals and departments before appointing new heads, discovered lots of discrepancies in the Office of the Ombudsman.