By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
The Deputy Lead Counsel in the current Local Government Commission of Inquiry has accused Lamin Suso and Ousman Touray, the former Acting Finance Director and Chief Executive Officer of Basse Area Council (BsAC), of running the council as if it were their own home by keeping everything secret.
Counsel Gomez accused Suso of diverting the funds meant for the council for personal use and benefits.
During his testimony, Mr Suso revealed that he had previously provided financial support for Basse Area Council activities alongside the CEO in an undocumented manner and, as per the Deputy Lead Counsel, Lawyer Patrick Gomez, Suso and the CEO had been running the council as if it were their own personal residence.
“You and the CEO take the Basse Area Council as your home. You do not follow the procedure. You do everything under the carpet,” Counsel Gomez said.
Mr. Susso, together with members of the Finance Unit of the Basse Area Council, were said to have jointly withdrawn over 51 million dalasis. According to the auditors, they could not account for this considerable money.
Earlier in the commission, Ndabah Krubally, the cashier of the Basse Area Council, told the commission that he withdrew over 35 million dalasi.
Krubally further informed the commission that the withdrawals were made based on the instructions of Lamin Suso and the CEO Ousman Touray.
When questioned about the expenditure of the council’s money, Krubally stated that after withdrawing cash from the bank, he hands it over to the Finance Director and the CEO. On some occasions, Krubally mentioned that he deposits the council’s funds into the business account of Mr. Lamin Suso.
However, Suso denied such allegations and claimed that he used to pre-finance council activities, which would be later paid to his account. All these, according to him, would done with the CEO “under the carpet“.
“Monies were withdrawn from the council’s accounts and deposited into your account,” Lawyer Gomez told Lamin Suso. “Yes,” Suso answered.
Suso claimed that he used to pre-finance some council activities, and some of those withdrawals from the council accounts and deposits into his business account were refunds.
“What procedure did you follow?” Lawyer Gomez asked.
“It happened between me and the CEO,” the witness replied.
“You and the CEO are the problems of the Council,” Lawyer Gomez said.
“I will take full responsibility,” Suso replied.
The Lawyer told him that Ndabah Krubally, the cashier of the council, had in fact testified that he (Suso) did not pre-finance council activities.
Suso replied: “It used to happen between me and the CEO. We used to do it under the carpet. We know there were risks. We know it was wrong,” Lamin Suso said.
“So, you and the CEO used to do this under the carpet?” Lawyer Gomez asked. “Yes, we used to do it under the carpet. We used to raise cheques in Ndabah’s name to withdraw for my refund,” Lamin Suso answered. “You keep it under the carpet it was wrong,” Lawyer Gomez said. “Yes,” the witness answered.
Lamin Suso was the Acting Director of Finance of the Basse Area Council. He and Ousman Touray, CEO of the council, have been accused of multiple financial misdeeds in the council. They are currently under suspension by the council pending the commission’s investigation and outcome.
