By Amadou Jadama
Two men, Jonathan Papafloma and Wilfred Sayee, both Liberian nationals, appeared before the principal magistrate Muhammed Krubally of Banjul on two counts of purchasing forged notes and obtaining money by false pretense.
The duo was unrepresented by a lawyer and they all pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
According to the police, Jonathan Papafloma and Wilfred in September this year, in Banjul and diverse places were found with $8,000 forged bank notes or currency note. On Count Two, the duo by false pretences and with intent to defraud, obtained an amount of D638,000.00 from one Momodou Bobo Barry, with the pretext that they are going to change the said amount to genuine US Dollar notes and instead provided forged bank notes.
At this juncture, prosecuting officer Superintendent Amadou Keita applied for an adjournment to enable them to call their witnesses and objected to any bail for reasons that the accused persons are non-Gambians and the investigation is ongoing.
However, the presiding magistrate Krubally, overruled the prosecution’s application and granted Mr Papafloma and Mr Sayee bail, stating that bail is always at the discretion of the court depending on the circumstances and it is their right to bail.
The accused persons were then admitted to bail in the sum of D350,000 each with two Gambian sureties each of whom must be in the course of business or employment and earns a salary of not less than D15,000, and each surety should deposit his or her valid ID cards or passports and correct contact numbers to the registrar of the court.
The case was adjourned to 12 October.
