By Bruce Asemota
Three government officials from the National Registry Office, Seedy Jammeh, Yusupha M Cham and Matarr Sylva were yesterday arraigned before Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the High Court in Banjul on multiple charges of conspiracy to defraud, theft of public funds amounting to over D14,395,620.00, forgery and economic crimes.
Two of them, Yusupha M Cham and Matarr Sylva, were further charged with two more counts of official corruption and abuse of office.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges and after taking their plea, State Counsel, M Sarr indicated that he was not opposed to granting the accused persons bail but stressed that the court impose stringent conditions to ensure their attendance in court and safeguard the integrity of the proceedings.
However, lawyers Lamin J Darboe and S Sonko representing the accused persons, argued that their clients are not flight risks.
Deciding the issue of bail, Justice Jaiteh pointed out that this is an appropriate case in which the accused persons can be admitted to bail, subject to terms that would ensure their continued appearance in court and their compliance with all procedural requirements.
He accordingly granted bail in the sum of sixteen million dalasis each and directed that all accused attend every court sitting unfailingly from arraignment to the final judgement, unless otherwise excused by the court, to avoid automatic revocation of bail and the issuance of a bench warrant.
