Keypoints:
- Netherlands says EU has suspended €18m
- Freetown disputes why the payment was delayed
- Dutch fugitive remains at centre of row
THE Netherlands says the European Commission has suspended €18m in financial support to Sierra Leone as pressure mounts on Freetown over convicted Dutch drug trafficker Jos Leijdekkers.
But Sierra Leone has challenged the Dutch account of why the money has been held back, saying delays to its 2026 EU budget support arose from procedural issues surrounding an amended financing agreement rather than punishment over the fugitive.
The competing explanations have added a new diplomatic layer to a case that has troubled relations between Sierra Leone and the Netherlands for more than a year.
Dutch minister links funds to fugitive row
Reuters reported that Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said the European Commission had suspended €18m promised to Sierra Leone for 2026 to press the government to act against Leijdekkers.
Van Weel also said another €22.5m expected next year could be withheld if the Netherlands continues to regard Sierra Leone as refusing to cooperate.
The European Commission had not responded to Reuters’ request for comment at the time of the report.
Africa Briefing reported in July that Dutch officials were seeking European financial pressure on Sierra Leone over the unresolved extradition case.
At the time, no EU funding suspension had been formally announced.
Freetown disputes Dutch account
Sierra Leone’s Information Minister Chernor Bah has now pushed back against suggestions that the funding delay was imposed as punishment over Leijdekkers.
Bah said the delayed 2026 budget support stemmed from procedural matters involving an amended financing agreement, with disbursements proposed for 2027 and 2028.
He said reports portraying the earlier EU decision as a new punitive step tied to a particular person or case did not reflect the reasons formally communicated to the Sierra Leonean government.
That response leaves a significant difference between the explanation offered by the Dutch justice minister and the account given by Freetown.
Dutch police say Leijdekkers is in Sierra Leone
Leijdekkers is one of the Netherlands’ most wanted fugitives.
Dutch police said in January 2025 that investigators were certain he was living in Sierra Leone after examining reports about his whereabouts.
A Rotterdam court sentenced him in absentia to 24 years in prison in June 2024 over six cocaine shipments totalling almost 7,000kg and for ordering a killing.
A Belgian court also sentenced him to 10 years in September 2024 for drug trafficking and assault. Reuters says his convictions across several Belgian cases amount to around 100 years in prison.
The case has drawn fresh attention to the growing reach of cocaine trafficking networks across West Africa, where criminal organisations increasingly use the region as a transit and redistribution hub.
Cooperation remains disputed
Sierra Leone initially said in January 2025 that it was investigating reports about Leijdekkers and was willing to cooperate with Dutch authorities, Interpol and other international law-enforcement agencies.
The government later confirmed that the Netherlands had formally engaged Freetown and provided a dossier on the case for review.
What remains unresolved is whether that cooperation has gone far enough for Dutch authorities — and whether the €18m funding delay is directly tied to the fugitive dispute or, as Sierra Leone insists, to administrative issues surrounding EU financing.
Either way, the Leijdekkers case has moved well beyond a criminal investigation. It is now affecting Sierra Leone’s diplomatic relationship with the Netherlands and has become entangled with European development funding.
