After Sierra Leone’s president took office, his wife, her family went real estate shopping

Since Julius Bio became Sierra Leone’s president in April 2018, his wife, Fatima Bio, and her close relatives have scooped up luxury properties in The Gambia.

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 subsidised rental flat in South London.

Within less than two years, the couple’s lives would change dramatically. In April 2018, Julius 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 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 the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) show that between May 2022 and February 2024, Fatima acquired two villas, an apartment building, and a flat in Gambia – a country 1 000 kilometres 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’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 and her relatives spent just over $2.1 million on at least 10 properties, almost all of which are located in affluent neighbourhoods and tourist hotspots. On top of this came construction costs, including for a large hotel that is being developed by one of Fatima’s half-brothers.

The sales records also revealed that properties registered in the names of Fatima and her mother were purchased with the help of an individual named Alphonso 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’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 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 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’s half-brothers, Abdoul 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’s mother and her other half-brother did not respond to requests for comment.

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 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 organisations like Transparency International say 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.

In the ‘Beverly Hills’ of The Gambia

Upon entering Gambia’s Brufut Heights – an exclusive neighbourhood 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, 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.

Publicly available information on the wealth of Fatima’s mother and half-brother suggests they would have been stretched to afford the coastal villas registered in their names.

The Gambian tax register for Tidankay, Fatima’s mother, does not record any tax payments by her beyond the stamp duty on the villa, which is listed as having been paid on her behalf by King, the Sierra Leone government contractor.

In a 2002 interview, Fatima described her mother as being in need of financial support, saying that she opened a shop “chiefly to finance my mum, who is around and needed a place to work.”

As for Fatima’s half-brother, Yusupha, photos posted on his Facebook profile show he spent several years working at a hotel in the United States (US) state of Maryland before moving back to The Gambia. His exact position at the hotel could not be confirmed.

In 2016, he registered a business in The Gambia called Uniglobe Properties, operating in real estate. He registered the business as a ‘sole proprietorship’, which means that any taxes on profits the firm paid would be reflected in his personal tax records. However, the records indicate that he has paid a total of only $2 in income tax in the years since setting up Uniglobe properties, indicating that neither he nor his company has generated taxable profits, or that he didn’t declare them.

Property Buying Spree

The sales records and registry documents obtained by OCCRP show that in March 2023 and February 2024, Fatima spent just under $360 000 on four Gambian real estate purchases of her own.

In March 2023, she acquired a two-bedroom apartment for $85 000 in Forest View, an upscale estate in the popular tourist district Senegambia Strip, plus a three-floor villa with a pool in the high-end district of Bijilo, for $81 000.

The following year, in February 2024, the first lady bought a four-story apartment building next to the Chinese embassy in Bijilo. The stamp duty payment indicates the price was around $148 000. As of April 2025, the complex offered apartments for rent for 110 to 130 euros a night.

Fatima purchased another villa in Bijilo, with cream and ochre walls, in February 2024 for $44 000 — less than the price the empty plot of land it stands on had sold for in 2012, according to a handwritten property transaction record from the time. Separate property records show that an application to lease the land to Fatima was made as early as 2012, but the transfer of the land and the $44 000 payment were not processed and finalised until the start of 2024.

Prior to becoming Sierra Leone’s presidential couple, Bio and his wife appear to have lived modestly, raising questions about the source of the funds used to pay for the new Gambian real estate.

A retired military officer who helped stage a series of coups in the 1990s, Bio briefly served as head of state before leaving Sierra Leone for asylum in the US. Little is known about this phase of his life, though in September 2001 he and his first wife bought a small house just outside Washington, D.C., making a down payment of $27 099, and covering the remaining $242 850 with a mortgage. The house was sold a few years later.

In 2011, Bio returned to political life after securing the presidential nomination of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, the country’s main opposition party.

As recounted by Fatima in interviews, the couple met in 2012 in England, where Bio was fundraising among the Sierra Leonean diaspora. The following year, they married at a modest private event in East London, according to Fatima’s interviews and media coverage.

– This report is an extract from the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. The full story can be read online at https://www.occrp.org/en/investigation/after-sierra-leones-president-took-office-his-wife-and-her-family-went-real-estate-shopping

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