By Tabora Bojang
The preliminary report from the long running parliamentary inquiry into the importation and sale of fuel from a Russian ship, which was allegedly conducted under dubious circumstances, is set to be presented to the plenary this week.
The inquiry was established to investigate how three companies Apogee FZC, Creed Energy Limited and Ultimate Beige Logistics allegedly imported and sold 36,935.614 metric tons of petroleum products in the country valued at $30 million without paying tax.
The product was in a Russian ship in the Atlantic Ocean before it was brought to The Gambia. No tax was paid to the state among other irregularities including allegations of bribery to senior officials for them to look the other way.
Since the commencement of the inquiry, dozens of witnesses including former Petroleum Minister Abdoulie Jobe, Central Bank Governor Buah Saidy, Inspector General of Police Seedy Touray, GRA Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe, Gam Petroleum General Manager Yero Jallow, Pura Director General Dr Njogu Bah, GNPC Managing Director Baboucarr Njie, Permanent Secretaries Amie Njie, Abdoulie Jallow and Baboucarr Jobe and acting Registrar of Companies, Marie Therese Gomez, all testified.
Some of the testimonies though were not covered by the press as journalists were repeatedly denied access to cover some witness accounts.
Speaking on the committee’s latest development on the inquiry, Upper Saloum lawmaker Alagie Mbow, vice chairman of the committee disclosed that it will present its preliminary report before the plenary this week. He said the plenary shall decide after the presentation to extend its probe or otherwise. “The joint committee has not reached a conclusion yet. As we go into the inquiry new issues are emerging which are contrary to the laws of the Gambia and we cannot ignore them. Our witnesses keep changing. Also, there are few other companies registered in the country but we were not able to trace or find them anywhere but the lawyers that incorporated them are here and some of those lawyers served as secretaries for them. The mandate of the committee was 90 days and that has come to a close,” Hon Mbow told Kerr Fatou’s The Brunch on Saturday.
Mbow said if anything, the inquiry has exposed a “lot of gaps in our laws, integrity of our people,” and institutions behaving the way they wanted to behave.
