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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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BADJIE STILL IN MILE 2

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Five days after a high court judge granted him bail, the former minister of Transport, Works and Construction, Ousman Badjie, is still detained at the Central Prison, Mile 2, for failing to fulfil   bail conditions.

His lawyer, Lamin Camara, has therefore filed a motion for the judge to review the bail conditions.

Badjie, a father of four was granted bail in the sum of D10 million with two Gambian sureties in the sum of D5 million each last Wednesday, three weeks after he was remanded. The judge, Simon Abi, said the sureties should be owners of a property within the Greater Banjul Area of a value not less than D5 million. He said the title deeds should be verified by the high court registrar before Mr Badjie could be released from custody.

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The affidavit of support for the judge to review the bail conditions stated: “The applicant could not meet the onerous terms of bail conditions as granted by this court and was returned to the state Central Prison Mile 2. The sum the applicant is charged for is D1,134, 000 whilst bail is granted in the sum of D10,000,000. The applicant’s family and friends are willing but finding it extremely difficult to meet the said conditions imposed by the court. This court has the jurisdiction to grant the application. Unless this court orders the applicant’s release, he will continue to languish in detention till the end of trial.” 

It is not yet known whether the state will oppose the application. The judge asked if he could review Badjie’s bail as he was the one who granted it. In reply, Camara said the judge has the power to do so referring him to the case of Mambury Njie, former finance minister.

Camara raised this issue after Badjie pleaded not guilty to two counts of economic crime and three counts of neglect of official duty, all relating to the D1,134,000 stolen by Faisal Bojang. 

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The case will resume in January for the prosecution to call their first witness. On the issue of the bail review, there is no specific date set yet.

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