The Standard has been granted a privileged access to Malagen’s latest investigative story which exposes malpractices in the contract and operation of the US-based company collecting $20 security levy at the Banjul International Airport.
The Gambia government has signed a contract with Securiport to provide aviation and immigration security, starting 2018.
However, the contract could not start until Sept. 2019 when the levy was imposed on inbound and outbound passengers, instead of initial plans of charging it to the tickets, which failed.
Yet, the company has billed the government to pay $4.5m as accrued arrears. The contract was also extended from 10 to 15 years for the same delay, according to the story.
Malagen has revealed further that the contract was negotiated from the Office of the President, and despite opposition from key ministries such as tourism and justice, it was signed and implemented in what has been queried as violation of public procurement and public finance rules.
“The introduction of $20 security levy at the airport has caused possible financial loss of at least D274m to the state. And the party has just started. It has just been three years, 11 more years to go,” the report state.
The full investigative report would be released by Malagen today at 5pm.
