By Tabora Bojang
The National Assembly has recommended that the Inspector General of Police conduct investigations against the former chief medical director of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, his deputy and a senior procurement officer among others over suspected diversion of the hospital’s funds, fraudulent expenditures, and for receiving funds intended for project financing into personal accounts.
This recommendation is contained in the report of the Finance and Public Accounts Committee FPAC on the audited financial statement of public institutions 2020-2024 and approved by the plenary last week.
According to FPAC, payments vouchers and bank statements for both the hospital and the former Chief Medical Director (CMD) showed that he approved additional allowance for himself without authorisation from the Board of Directors, and also used funds from the hospital to fund his personal expenses including his travel on vacation.
FPAC further observed that from the bank statement of one of the supplier’s (KC Rapid Forwarding) both the Senior Procurement Officer and the former Chief Medical Director (CMD) received payments from the supplier after transactions amounting to D766,795.00 were conducted with the hospital.
On this finding, lawmakers recommended that the IGP investigate the reasons as to why the supplier paid monies to the personal bank accounts of both the CMD and the Senior Procurement Officer within 60 days after the tabling of the report.
The Committee further recommends the termination of the services of the said Senior Procurement Officer accusing him of falsely representing his qualifications during recruitment.
Ex-deputy CMD
On the former deputy chief medical director Dr Abubacarr Jagne, FPAC noted that during the audit exercise funds amounting to D1,330,000, intended for project financing, were paid into his personal bank accounts and until the finalising of its report, he was unable to provide a clear explanation for these payments or offer evidence on how the funds were used.
“The team interviewed Mr Jagne, who agreed to submit the supporting documents; however, these documents had not been provided by the time this report was finalised,”FPAC said .
It also recommends that the IGP further investigate whether the fund was used for the intended purpose or recover the monies from M Jagne within 45 days after the tabling of the report.
FPAC also found that Dr Jagne received inappropriate payments amounting to D80,000 as board allowance from August 2022 to April 2024 despite not being a member of the board. It called on the IGP to investigate and recover the funds immediately.
In addition, the committee observed that cash advances of D123,900 and D437,373 were made to Jagne as imprest but there was no evidence to confirm that he purchased the items claimed.
According to FPAC, the hospital failed to comply with tax regulations by deducting D10,749,698.94 as income tax but these funds were not remitted to the Gambia Revenue Authority.
It also found that the management failed to pay staff contribution and credit union dues amounting to D9,954.968.94.
The Committee observed that during the review of the hospital’s procurement processes, withholding tax amounting to D17,563,757.51 was not deducted from payments made to various suppliers. It called on the GRA to investigate and ensure recovery of these funds.
