By Tabora Bojang
The National Assembly’s special select committee that investigated the disposal of assets linked to former president Yahya Jammeh has recommended that Justice Sheriff Tabally of the high court be referred to the Judicial Service Commission and the police, for investigation and appropriate action for causing economic loss to the state, negligence and dereliction of duty.
Tabally, a former sheriff of the high court was found wanting for his role in the sale of the former president’s cattle. The committee found that the report presented by the Sheriff’s Office endorsed by Tabally did not represent a complete and accurate record of all livestock sales conducted and that the report was prepared retrospectively, in anticipation of demands for accountability in the sale of the livestock.
“The committee finds the date placed on the report as grossly misleading based on the fact that there is no record of the report in any file of the Sheriff’s Office, whose officials purportedly prepared the report. Justice Tabally, the then Sheriff of the High Court, during his testimony, also conceded that the report was prepared well after the sales were completed, and he was called upon to endorse the report,” it said.
The committee also recommended that Alieu Jallow, former registrar general at the Ministry of Justice be reprimanded for participating in the operations at the sale ground without a clear legal mandate, contributing to the breakdown in the official process, leading to irregularities.
Lawmakers further recommended that Jallow be referred to the appointing authority and to the police for investigation and appropriate action against him for economic loss to the state, and for any other offence.
The committee stated that Jallow played a dual role as the official responsible for assets inventory and a witness to sales of those same assets which represented a clear “conflict of interest” and absence of “proper separation” of duties.
A recommendation was also issued against the chairman of the board of directors of Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency, Ebrima Cham, to be strongly reprimanded for “negligence and dereliction of duty”.
The committee further recommended that officers at the Sheriffs’ Department who took part in the sale, in particular, Seedy Fatty (deputy sheriff) and Modou Musa Ceesay (bailiff), be subjected to administrative disciplinary action by the Judicial Service Commission and criminal investigation by the police.
The committee also recommended that criminal investigations be initiated against Alpha Barry whose company Alpha Kapital was the receiver of assets seized from Jammeh, for conspiracy to defraud the state.
The report alleged that Barry failed to regularise titles in favour of purchasers of properties and that despite full payments, some of the transfers were either delayed indefinitely or never executed at all.
The committee recommended Mr Barry be permanently prohibited from conducting any business whatsoever with the government and that government conducts criminal investigations to ascertain whether the appointment of
Barry by former Attorney General Tambadou involved any form of corrupt practices.
Furthermore, the government was urged to immediately terminate Alpha Kapital’s receivership contract and that all adverts on the receivership website and any other platform be taken down within two days of the tabling of the report.
Mr Barry was also requested to hand over all keys, documentation of all warehouses, houses, and other properties under his receivership to the minister of justice.
