By Tabora Bojang
Surahata Janneh, the chairman of the commission of enquiry that looked into the assets and financial dealings of former president Jammeh yesterday told lawmakers that the commission had to make certain interim orders to dispose some of the properties to prevent them from spoilage and damage.
Janneh 83, a doyen of the Gambian bar told the special parliamentary committee which now wants to established the nature of the sales and whether the commission did not act beyond its powers in making those decisions.
“As far as the law is concerned, the commission of inquiry has coextensive jurisdiction with the High Court, and this is why any appeal from the commission goes to the Court of Appeal and looking at the terms of references of the commission, it can actually make orders as well as interim orders, the same way and reason the High Court or any court can make. And in this case unless you grant an interim order, some harm can affect the properties we were looking at,” Janneh explained
He said among the assets at the risk of damage, theft or sabotage were cars, tables and other properties that could be harmed by somebody ruining it through sabotage
Asked if he believes the commission had powers to make final orders, he replied, “yes, the rulings we made were final orders the sense that it goes with finality of a certain issue but not in respect to a whole matter.”
Following his submission, Lead Counsel Dibba made a suggestion for the witness to state whether in general terms a commission of inquiry extends beyond a full and impartial investigation into which it was established and publish report on the results of the inquiry to the president.
Janneh replied: “Well, the powers of the commission are not derived from one source. It is derived from the Constitution and the Commission of Inquiry Act in so far as it does not conflict with the constitution and the TOR”.
On suggestions of government interferences in the commission’s work, Janneh said the Minister of Justice never personally contacted him during the course of his work.
“I remember one letter sent to us that the cabinet has decided for us to do so and so but I rejected that letter and resisted that they cannot dictate us. I protested to the extent that if they continued, I was going to resign. I am very independent. And I am a man of integrity and I try to maintain integrity throughout my life”, he said.
