POLICE ASKS BANKS FOR INFO ON JAMMEH ACCOUNTS

By Mustapha Darboe The Gambia Police have written a confidential letter to the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank to ask banks to probe accounts belonging to the ex-president Jammeh and his family to find a missing US$50 million, The Standard has learned on Sunday. The letter seen by The Standard was forwarded to all banks and financial institutions from the Financial Intelligence Unit of the country’s Central Bank. In the letter, the Gambia police said they are probing the US$50 million that the authorities alleged has been missing in the state coffers possibly taken by Jammeh. Two weeks ago, the country’s finance ministry has issued a statement accusing Jammeh of misappropriating about US$100 million of public funds on individual sponsorship, party issues among others. “The office of the Inspector General of police is in receipt of directive to probe into the missing $50 million from Government coffers,” the letter sent to FIU and copied to all commercial banks reads. It added: “In light of the above, you are kindly requested to write to all banks in The Gambia to furnish the police with information on ex-president Yahya Jammeh or his immediate family members’ bank accounts, the dates when the accounts were opened, bank statements of the accounts or any other relevant information”. The Police action came a little over a week when the new government accused former President Jammeh of allegedly embezzling billions of dalasis. Jammeh has also been accused of allegedly redirecting funds from his wife’s charity for other expenses.]]>