London council reclaims subsidized flat from Sierra Leone's First Lady

Southwark Council in south London repossessed a two-bedroom social housing flat linked to Sierra Leone's First Lady, Fatima Jabbe-Bio, this week.

The seizure followed a year-long investigation into why a taxpayer-subsidized home was being maintained by someone living in a presidential palace in Freetown. Social housing is reserved for local residents in financial need, making the occupancy by a foreign political elite a major scandal. Council officials discovered the flat was rarely used while thousands of local families remain on waiting lists for affordable housing.

The unit will now be renovated and assigned to a family in urgent need of shelter.