By: Hadram Hydara
The Office of the Chief Justice has denied earlier reports of an alleged defrauding of D11 million within the Judiciary, saying only a mere attempt was made to defraud the Judiciary which was quickly detected and thwarted.
“These reports are of great concern to the Judiciary as they create the impression that the Judiciary has been defrauded of the sum of D11 million or that the said amount has been stolen from the funds of the Judiciary,” a release reads from the Office of the Chief Justice.
The Standard newspaper broke news of the alleged fraud within the Judiciary in their 12th September issue and reported that Police were on verge of launching an investigation into the alleged corruption scandal, however, in their press release issued today September 30th, the Office of the Chief Justice said:
“That is not the case. The Judiciary has not lost any such funds. No such amount has been stolen from the Judiciary’s funds,” the release continues.
The Office of the Chief Justice in an attempt to clarify further confirmed that there was in fact an attempt to defraud the Judiciary, but it proved unsuccessful as the Central Bank of the Gambia extended a helping hand.
“What appeared to be an attempt to defraud the Judiciary was instead discovered by the Judiciary in 2021. The intervention of the Central Bank and Senior Management of the Judiciary thwarted the attempted fraud.
The Judiciary reported the matter to the Police on 15th December 2021. The staff member concerned was sent home pending the conclusion of the Police investigations.”
The release further emphasized that there are no missing funds whatsoever and regarding the alleged culprit involved in the “attempted fraud”, the Chief Justice’s office said:
“The Judiciary wishes to reiterate that no such funds are missing and wishes to assure the general public that it has strong financial control systems and measures in place to safeguard public funds.
In September, 2022, the concerned staff was taken to court and convicted and sentenced,” the release ends.
