By Baba Sillah
The head of the National Audit Unit, Karamba Touray, yesterday explained to the Janneh Commission how the defunct Daily Observer Company was audited by his office in 2015.
Mr Touray said request for the audit of the company came from the former president through a letter dated 4 June 2015.
The audited report and a letter of engagement between the company and the National Audit Office were tendered and admitted in evidence after they were confirmed by him.
According to the Auditor General, the audit was conducted from July 2010 to July 2015 and that during the period they were able to establish the original owners of the company but said it was not registered as a business.
Mr Touray further testified that they found it difficult to establish the ownership of the company because it was not registered before it was sold.
However, he said the original owner of the company was KY Best noting that tax liabilities, social security contributions and staff loans were unpaid.
Touray adduced that during the process they found it difficult to justify certain payments as there were no documents to support the payments.
“We could not establish who purchased the company from the original owners. Appointment of staff usually came from the Office of the President; the company should have been auctioned. I do not consider the company as a public enterprise,” Mr Touray said.
Asked how they came to know that the company was not registered, he replied that through consultation with AG Chambers.
In separate developments, Alagie Jabang, the former finance director of GamPetroleum and Baba Fatajo, the managing director of Nawec, were extensively cross-examined by Victoria Andrews, lawyer for Muhammed Bazzi and Fadi Magezi on matters relating to Nawec and GamPetroleum.
