By: Mama A. Touray
Testifying before the ongoing Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Monday, Alieu Sonko, revenue collector at Brikama Area Council, stated that the Finance Director of Brikama Area Council instructed him not to record D224,000 of council funds he had collected in the cash book.
Sonko admitted that he did not go to the internal audit unit of the council for reconciliation due to the instructions from the Director of Finance.
In his explanation, witness Alieu Sonko said he was instructed by the Director of Finance of BAC not to record the amount in his cash book and denied the allegation that it was a suppression of the revenue collected, adding that “It was the blunder of the Director of Finance.”
Sonko, who collects revenue from Madiana, Youna, and Brufut Heights, informed the commission that the amount was D212,000 instead of D224,000 as queried by the Internal Audit Unit of the council.
Explaining what he meant by “blunder of the Director of Finance,” he said the problem lay with the Director of Finance, and Gomez reminded him of the duties and responsibilities of revenue collectors based on the provisions of the law.
Collector Sonko said he did reconciliation with the investigators of the Commission instead of D224,000, and it was discovered that it was D212,000 not accounted for.
Counsel Gomez asked, “You have accepted D212,000 cash withholding?” and he replied, “It is not withholding. It is the blunder of the Director of Finance who asked us not to put it in the cash book.”
Sonko testified that his reason for not going to the internal unit for reconciliation was due to the instructions from his line manager (Dembo Bojang), who is now the Chief of Kombo Central, that he should do reconciliation at the IT Unit instead of the Internal Audit Unit.
At this point, Gomez told him, “Would you agree that the money was not in the bank?” and he admitted, “Yes.”
When asked to explain what happened to the money, he said, “Yes, these monies, most of them were given to the Director of Finance Alagie Jeng, and the Principal Cashier Lamin K. Kanteh would issue me receipts.
Sonko said he assumed that after paying the money to the names mentioned above, they would have deposited the money in the bank. “I assumed they deposited the money in the bank.”
The witness will appear today to continue his testimony on his cash books.
