By Katrina Manson FREETOWN, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's new anti-graft chief is seeking wide-ranging new powers and a special court to root out endemic corruption that is widely blamed for helping start the impoverished country's 1991-2002 civil war. Leading donor Britain's DfID stopped funding Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) earlier this year after a damning annual review found it had achieved "little or no impact ... on reduction of real or perceived levels of corruption". Abdul Tejan-Cole, a lawyer and human rights activist, took the helm of the ACC this week after being appointed by President Ernest Bai Koroma, who was elected in September on a promise of greater prosperity and has pledged zero tolerance for graft. "Corruption here is really, really bad ... public expenditure is disappearing in a lot of areas," Tejan-Cole, 41, told Reuters in an interview in the capital Freetown. He said he did not believe in amnesties, raising the prospect of investigating members of the former administration of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, whose deputy and chosen successor as president, Solomon Berewa, lost an election run-off to Koroma. Tejan-Cole, no relation of the former president, replaced Tejan Kabbah's brother-in-law, Henry Joko-Smart, at the ACC. Tejan-Cole said he wanted to force all senior politicians and officials to declare their assets annually, and his 112-team would investigate whether any officials were hiding assets by putting them in names of their family members. "The big men of Africa are not immune. I am not afraid to take on anybody ... While in office I cannot prosecute the President but when he leaves office I'm would be more than happy to take him to court if there were a case," he said. HIGH COURT BID Tejan-Cole said he had presidential backing for a separate court to fast-track corruption cases -- a change that will require an amendment to the constitution. At present, prosecutions must be made in the name of the Attorney General, a political appointee and cabinet member, creating a bottleneck for ACC cases. "It is crucial that the ACC develops the capacity to prosecute its own cases. We want a special division of the High Court to focus on corruption cases," he told Reuters. "We need an independent ACC not based on any political influence." Tejan-Cole said he would seek funding for the court's judges from Britain's DfID as well as the World Bank, European Union and the George Soros Open Society Institute, to ensure his plans for reform did not become "an exercise in futility". Despite its huge mineral wealth, including diamonds, gold, rutile and bauxite, more than 70 percent of Sierra Leoneans live below the poverty line and the country was bottom of the U.N. Human Development Index which broadly rates quality of life. Graft watchdog Transparency International ranks it 150 of 179 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index. Tejan-Cole said he gave up a good job in South Africa and took a big pay cut to return home, but did not regret it. "I don't think I'm being paid enough but it's not just a question of salary. Everyone dreams about making a difference to their country. If I can make an impact, make a difference, that will be enough payment for me." (Editing by Alistair Thomson)
