Gambia’s former President, Yahya Jammeh who has ruled the country with iron fist for the past 22 years was accused of ordering the withdrawal of millions of revenue money deposited in the Gambia Revenue Authority’s Tax Recovery Account at the Guaranty Trust Bank.

The Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank, Mr. Boladji Ayodele has revealed that the former President was among the signatories to the GRA Tax Recovery Account at his bank.

The GT Bank Managing Director made these revelations to the Commission of Inquiry set up by the new government to look into the financial activities of the former president and his close associates.

Mr. Ayodele told the commission that the said account was opened with a letter from Dr. Njogu Lamin Bah, former Secretary General, Head of Civil Servants and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

The GT Boss explained that passport copies of the former president and Dr. Njogu Lamin Bah were submitted to the bank to open the account in 2012. The two were signatories to the account until the replacement of Dr. Njogu Lamin Bah by Mr. Momodou Sabally in the following year. Then Momodou Sabally was also replaced by Abdoulie Sallah.

MD Boladji Ayodele told the commission that the account was frozen by an order from the High Court.

The account holding documentations were admitted and marked as exhibits.

“A total amount of D54, 358,650.41 Million was deposited and D47,418,835.33 Million was withdrawn,” GT Bank Managing Director Ayeodele said.

Transaction documents of 37 deposits plus 18 withdrawals including the Statement of Account for the entire GRA Tax Recovery Account were admitted and marked as exhibits.

The Bank Management mentioned Amadou Samba, a Gambian business tycoon as a shareholder of the bank with 12 percent shares while the KGI owned by the former President holds 1.5 percent.

The Management further informed the commission that the former President Yahya Jammeh was personally banking with the Guaranty Trust Bank.

Mr. Boladji Ayodele went further to inform the commission about numerous withdrawals made by Dr. Njogu Lamin Bah, former Secretary General and other signatories to the account in different times ranging from Hundreds of Thousands to Millions of local and foreign currencies. He mentioned the withdrawal D201, 000 and the transfer of € 21, 766. 00 sent to Paris for the purchase of goods but the beneficiary was not indicated. 

Transfer of $14,759 to Malaysia, allegedly a university tuition but the name of the beneficiary was not disclose in 2012.

Transfer of £5000 was sent to the United Kingdom to Ms. Isatou Darboe, former GRTS staff for university tuition. The money was directly sent to her.

Transfer of £5, 400 was sent to Real Bank in the United Kingdom to one Ms Ya Oley Conteh for university tuition.

Transfer of $21,524.40 was sent to Amadou Gitteh at Toronto Carlton University for university tuition in 2012. Another transfer of $17,227.27 was directly sent to the same Amadou Gitteh in Canada.

“$250,000 cash purchased and was collected on the counter by Dr. Njogu Lamin Bah. It was signed by the former President Yahya Jammeh and Dr. Njogu Lamin Bah,” he disclosed.

The Guaranty Trust Managing Director further disclosed that a  withdrawal of D4,733.138 Million was made by Dr. Njogu Lamin Bah, former Secretary General in 2012. He also mentioned a cash withdrawal of D2 Million by Momodou Sabally, former Secretary General in 2013. He referred to transfers signed by the former President and Momodou Sabally that included D5,398.693 Million to NAWEC, D229,390,00 to Lt. Sally Bojang, D300, 000 to Mr. John Njie and Mariama Colley, D13, 683. 600 Million to Gambia International Airline’s Hajj Package and D4 Million to one Sheriff Sawaneh.

At this juncture, Mrs. Amie Bensouda, counsel of the commission asked whether it was not strange to the bank’s management to see the personal involvement of the former president in the operations of the revenue account but the MD answered in the negative saying the operation was in the public domain.

It was put to him that the withdrawals were not consistent with the Public Finance Act. He was to submit the Ghatson Account details to the Secretariat of the Commission. The commission was informed about Toni Ghattas, a business man who was allegedly exporting with the Alhamdudilallahi Petroleum APAM Account instead of his Ghatson Account.

Meanwhile, the GT Bank Management were cleared by the commission but told they will be call back when needed.

Officials of the Central Bank of The Gambia Wednesday, August 16, testified before the Commission of Inquiry on the financial activities of the former President Yahya Jammeh and his close associates at the Djembe Beach Hotel, Kololi.

The Principal Banking Officer of the Central Bank, Mr. Karamo Jammeh after swearing on the Qur’an, said he was appointed at the bank since 2002.

Mr. Karamo Jammeh testified before the commission in relations to Carnegie Mineral Mining Accounts.

He told the commission that the original signatories to the account were Sulayman Samba, Lamin Nyabally, Abdoulie Sallah, Kalilu Bayo, Nuha Touray and Isatou Auber respectively.

The Principal Banking Officer of the Central Bank went further to reveal both the local Dalasi and US Dollar accounts of the Carnegie Mineral Mining.

There were bundles of deposit and withdrawal papers admitted and marked as exhibits. Many of the withdrawals were signed by Momodou Sabally, former Secretary General and Nuha Touray, former Secretary to the Cabinet. Some of the withdrawals included millions of local and foreign currencies.

Among the list of payments from the account was a sum of $500, 000 which was paid to the Treasury of the Republic of Guinea Conakry on the directive of the Office of the President in 2014.

There was a payment of over D1 Million from the account as university tuition for one Sheikh Omar Bittaye in 2014. Another sum of D784, 000 was paid as tuition to London College for Isatou Darboe, former GRTS staff. All the payments were directly made to the beneficiaries from the Office of the President and were signed by Kalilu Bayo and Isatou Auber in 2014.

The Central Bank Official further revealed a directive from the Office of the President instructing the bank to give D600, 000 to each of the Regional Governors Lamin Jammeh NBR, Omar Khan CRR, Omar Sompo Ceesay URR, Salifu Puye LRR and Aminata Siffai Hydara WCR. The transaction documents showed the monies given to Governor Lamin Jammeh and Omar Khan were for the sale of meat during the Ramadan. There was purpose attached to the money given to the rest.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank Officials were asked to leave but will be called back if they are needed.

Gambia’s Accountant General, Mr. Momodou Lamin Bah has Monday, August 14, appeared before the Commission of Inquiry on the financial activities of the former President Yahya and close associates at the Djembe Hotel, Kololi.

Momodou Lamin Bah after swearing on the Holy Quran, told the commission that he is Accountant General since 2014.

Bah in his testimony before a three member Commission said he was not aware of the Tax Recovery Accounts opened by the former government at two commercial banks, saying they were not featured in the government accounts.

“I have not been aware of these accounts,” Accountant General Bah said.

“They were not part of the financial statements of the Government of The Gambia,” he added.

Mrs. Amie Bensouda, a senior counsel of the Commission then questioned him about the records of the two accounts in the government accounts.

Mr. Bah told the commission that normally the government accounts are held in the Central Bank. He said he has engaged the Records Unit but did not find any result to these accounts. He disclosed to the commission that the government accounts in commercial banks must be approved by the Minister of Finance with recommendations of the Accountant General.

“By law no government account should be open without the knowledge of the Accountant General,” he asserted.

Accountant General Momodou Lamin Bah said being the chief accounting officer of the government that he was not aware of these accounts opened by the former government at commercial banks in the names of Guaranty Trust Bank, First International Bank and Trust Bank Company Limited.

At this juncture, an exhibit letter which was used to open the said account was shown to him.

Meanwhile, he was asked to return to the commission next week to explain about the letter, procedures and policies to be taken to open commercial bank accounts.

The Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) has been denied a police permit to hold a political rally in Brikama on Saturday, the campaign manager said.

Adama Manjang, national campaign manager of the opposition GDC, told The Point:

“On Tuesday, I applied for a permit for political rally to be held in Brikama.  After submitting the application for permit on Tuesday, somebody called the GDC headquarters from the office of the Inspector General of Police saying somebody from GDC should come to the police station on Thursday.

“I went to the [police] registry and they referred me to the PIU office.  I was told to come with two members of GDC.  I informed our leader, Mamma Kandeh.  He asked me to comply by bringing two other members of the party.

“When they came, the police gave us three forms to fill, among the questions on the form they were asking for date of birth, marital status, occupation, address, etc.  I, Essa M. Jallow, the PRO of the party, and MC Cham, the national youth mobiliser, filled the forms.  I told them this never happen when applying for permit but they told us even APRC followed the same procedure when applying for permit. I told them that I was surprised with the New Gambia.

“We underwent all the screening processes.  After 3 pm, we were told to go to the Inspector General of Police.  Upon entering his office, I met the IGP ready to go home.  He [the IGP] said ‘the file is in my office, we are on the process.  You can go home. We have your contact numbers written in the file, you will hear from us later’.  We did not hear from them the whole day on Saturday, no call from the police.”

The public relations officer of the Gambia Police Force, Inspector Foday Conta, was contacted for comment but to no avail.

Last week Tuesday, Mamma Kandeh, GDC leader, was questioned by the police following remarks he made in Essau against some ministers accusing them for malfeasance contracts on behalf of the government.

The police asked him to substantiate the accusation. He was also asked to clarify certain points he made about the Kanilai protest which lead to the death of one Haruna Jatta.

All efforts made to reach the Police PRO for comments proved futile.

Source: The Point Newspaper

Gambia’s Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructures in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNDOC and Article 19 with stakeholders on Thursday, began a workshop with the primary aim of guiding in the drafting of the Gambian Freedom of Information Bill, in line with international standards and best practices.

The Minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure, Demba A. Jawo in his opening statement said the right to information is a guiding principle for participatory democracies.

“People need information to be able to adequately express themselves on matters of governance, holding leaders accountable, influencing service delivery and decision-making and for promoting and protecting their human rights,” Information Minister Jawo said.

Mr. Jawo, a former president of the Gambia Press Union who has spent years in exiled told participants that the new government recognises, and is committed to ensure adherence to all international treaties, agreements and commitments that the Gambia signed and is a party, saying they would spare no effort to meet its obligations under Articles 10and 13 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

“Governments that are liberal in sharing information with citizens are more likely to develop faster than those that withhold or give piecemeal information,” Minister Jawo asserted.

“Access to information helps the public make public authorities accountable for their actions and allows public debate,” he added.

The Information Minister said unnecessary secrecy in government leads to poor governance and defective decision-making. He emphasized that government and public sector bodies have to be seen open and transparent by nurturing access to information in order to improve public confidence and trust.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in The Gambia, Ms Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje said the stakeholders workshop is based on renewed efforts by the Gambia to initiate key reforms that will help build strong and independent institutions and processes to strengthen democratic governance.

“The current political dispensation provides a golden opportunity to restore people’s trusts in state institutions, promote respect for the rule of law, and ensure better protection of human rights,” UN Resident Coordinator asserted.

Ms Lekoetje highlighted that access to information and freedom of expression is an international human rights norm embedded in key human rights instruments.

“The bill should be seen not just as an essential pillar of governance interventions, but as a prerequisite for addressing wide ranging poverty issues experienced through powerlessness and lack of voice,” Ms Lekoetje stated.

Meanwhile, the workshop will formulate, debate and adopt recommendations to inform the drafting of the Gambian Freedom of Information Bill.