By Tabora Bojang
Former Justice Minister Abubacarr Tamdadou has been freed from an adverse recommendation calling for his prosecution on economic crimes by the National Assembly Select Committee on the handling of seized assets of former president Jammeh.
The Committee had said Tambadou opened commercial banks accounts without authorisation, bypassing the accountant general, in addition to presiding over a “systematic pattern of violations” of the Public Finance Act in the handling of the assets.
It also accused Tambadou of creating parallel financial systems that operated outside constitutional and statutory frameworks and recommended that police conduct criminal investigations, and institute criminal proceedings against him.
The committee further recommended that Tambadou’s successor, Dawda Jallow, be reprimand for failing to reverse, regularise or halt the process already identified as unlawful under his predecessor .
Assembly withdraws recommendations
However, during Monday’s proceedings, Member for Lower Saloum Sainey Jawara, tabled a motion proposing the deletion of certain recommendations including initiation of criminal proceedings and economic crimes charges against Tambadou, arguing that there was no evidence that shows he was involved in any misuse of public funds to warrant the charge of economic crimes.
Hon. Jawara accused the Select Committee of overlooking the principle of fairness between the former minister and his successor, arguing that one cannot find two individuals liable for the same conduct and treat them differently.
“If the current minister, Dawda Jallow is found to have continued the practices of his predecessor, he too should be recommended to face a similar sanction. And also, Tambadou’s alleged wrongdoings were a collective decision of the cabinet sub-committee which comprises several ministers. We cannot solely blame Tambadou for the decision made by the entire ministerial sub-committee,” Hon. Jawara submitted.
He also dismissed the recommendation for the initiation of criminal investigations to ascertain whether the appointment of Alpha Barry as Receiver by Tambadou involved any form of corrupt practices, stating there was evidence that the ministerial taskforce approved Barry’s appointment and not Mr Tambadou.
Jawara’s motion generated a contentious debate among colleagues with several members from both the minority and majority camps supporting the motion, while a few others opposed it citing fears that any deletion of such recommendations could render the work of the committee futile.
Nominated Member Kebba Lang Fofana, a member of the committee, argued that the level of involvement of the former and current minister differs in magnitude noting that while Jallow found a system in place that was wrong and unlawful, Tamdadou initiated it.
Another committee member Suwaibou Touray also defended the previous recommendations and argued that they do not consider Minister Jallow’s continuation of the same processes as “deliberate” which was why his sanction differs from his predecessor.
However, Member for Kiang West Lamin Ceesay described the recommendation against current minister Jallow as “lenient” despite him continuing the same “illegal processes and mismanagement allegedly initiated by Tambadou.
Minority leader Alhagie S Darboe, adding his voice, called for caution on the use of the term “criminal” against Tambadou and argued that the committee cannot conclude that the former minister was found criminally liable.
According to him, it is only the police investigation that can prove he was criminally liable and subject to the advice from the Ministry of Justice.
Majority leader Billay G Tunkara also suggested the removal of the word “criminal” in the recommendations against Tambadou, calling it “too premature.”
‘We are not trying to exonerate anybody, but it is too premature to conclude on the grounds of misconduct, corruption and criminal liability,” Tunkara argued.
He came up with a different proposal, seeking to amend the principal recommendation contained in the committee’s report against Tambadou.
The majority leader proposed that “the executive through the police conduct an investigation under the supervision of the Director of Public Prosecution to institute investigation proceedings against Tambadou, and government to “investigate if there is systematic and deliberate violation of the Public Finance Act.
These new proposals received the Assembly’s approval which agreed to rescind previous recommendations that called for criminal investigations and institution of criminal proceedings for abuse of office and economic crimes against former minister Tambadou.
