When the trial resumed of the three Civil Defence Force (CDF) leaders in Freetown, witness TF2-140, aged 21, caused something of a stir. A close confidante of former CDF coordinator Sam Hinga Norman, the witness revealed that on one occasion in 1998 he travelled with Norman in a helicopter to a meeting in a luxury hotel in Guinea, where they met Sierra Leonean president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, his vice-president Albert Joe Demby and former British High Commissioner Peter Penfold. The witness told the court that during the meeting: «President Kabbah gave the sum of Le 32 million for the upkeep of the CDF.» He also stated that President Kabbah expressed his confidence in Norman and told him to caution the CDF not to harm civilians. The witness earlier testified that he was captured at the age of 14 and then initiated into the Kamajor society, where he was given charms to protect him from bullets. In cross examination, Chief Norman questioned the witness about his school results, revealing that he had been paying his school fees.
This spectacular testimony marked the restart of trials at the Court, and also illustrated a shift in the prosecution strategy. Witnesses testifying about incidents in and around Koribondo were moved aside to allow fresh evidence implicating top politicians, including the president. For his part, Hinga Norman, who was Minister of the Interior until his arrest in March 2003, continued to verbally attack the court as a political creation rather than an international court. However, his lawyers acted quickly to disabuse him of such thoughts.