By Omar Bah
Prominent Gambian lawyer Lamin J Darbo has publicly criticised the actions of the now defunct Janneh Commission of Inquiry over the disposal of assets frozen from former President Yahya Jammeh.
According to Darbo, the Commission acted without lawful authority when it sanctioned the sale and disposal of the assets while the inquiry was still on, and in doing so, contributed to tremendous economic loss for the country.
Darbo told The Standard on Tuesday that while the Janneh Commission had constitutional power to issue interim orders to preserve the assets under investigation, it overstepped its legal mandate by selling or dissipating these assets before concluding its work and submitting its report.
He emphasised that this disposal of assets is a power exclusively reserved for the President and can only be exercised after the Commission has finalised its investigation.
“The Commission sanctioned the disposal of the assets during the pendency of its inquiry and contributed to tremendous economic loss to the country by the undervaluation of seized properties,” he said.
He added: “Over time, there were demands for a publication of the items sold, to whom, and for how much, a simple request the Government refused to comply with for years on end. By its current primary legal adviser, it stonewalled and interposed the ridiculous argument of protecting the privacy of the buyers, an argument that must have crashed the gates of No. 1 Marina into the presidential offices through the medium of newspapers like The Standard.”
Responding to a Standard Newspaper question on whether it is normal to institute a Commission of Inquiry into a former Commission of Inquiry and whether it is normal to investigate those that investigated stolen public assets that were later stolen, J Darbo argued: “I note from the onset that the National Assembly’s intervention in Jammeh’s assets is not a Commission of Inquiry.”
He said the National Assembly is merely discharging its mandate under section 109 (2) (b) of the Constitution to investigate any matter of Public importance.
“Issues of public importance don’t come any bigger than the mis-governance triggered by the conduct of the Janneh Commission, and actively supported by the Ministry of Justice under former Attorney General in the person of Abubacarr Tambadou for premature disposal of assets during the pendency of its investigations.
“As a co-equal branch to the Executive, the National Assembly has a pivotal accountability mandate in investigating great corruption in the aftermath of the Janneh Commission. It is not reopening the Janneh Commission’s work. Rather, it aims to understand the mismanagement of the aftermath of that process with a view to prevent future recurrence.” In the circumstances, he added, “The remits are different. The Special Select Committee of the National Assembly is merely inquiring into the sale and disposal of the assets identified by The Janneh Commission and to disentangle the conflicts and utter corruption at the heart of the earlier process.
