At least 725 heads of cattle belonging to former president Yahya Jammeh were sold by the the Sheriff of the High Court of The Gambia below valuation by D2.4m, according to an investigation by The Republic, a medium established by investigative journalist Mustapha K Darboe.
Jammeh kept a variety of livestock and wild animals in his farms in Kanilai, Siffoe, Banjulinding and Farato. After he lost election to Adama Barrow and was forced into self-imposed exile, the new government opened an inquiry into his financial transactions, those of his associates and family.
The inquiry dubbed the Janneh Commission (after its chairman, doyen lawyer Sourahata Janneh), found Jammeh liable for at least US$362 million. At the beginning of the inquiry, the government which froze the former president’s assets through a high court decision by Justice Amina Saho Ceesay, applied to Justice Buba Jawo during the vacation of the court in January 2018 to sell the livestock. Justice Jawo, now late, approved the sale.
According to The Republic, it has reviewed documents showing that the sheriff of the high court at the time, Sheriff B Tabally, (now a high court judge), sold 725 heads of cattle.
Initially, 642 heads of cattle were identified during a visit to Jammeh’s three ranches by officials of the Janneh Commission in January 2018. These were worth at least D10.7 million, according to a valuation conducted by the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency, The Republic reported.
The investigative journal claimed that the sheriff sold at least 104 more heads of cattle than the 642 valued by GLMA, yet turned in about D2.4m less than the revenue projected by the agency.
Read the full story at www.therepublic.gm.
