Lamin Fatajo, Lamin Mass and Ada Gaye, respectively, the former permanent secretary, the former coordinator and former acting finance manager of the Rural Finance Project of the Ministry of Agriculture, have been charged in connection with payment of $14, 000 to one Sonko Fofana without seeking approval from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). They were supposed to take their plea when the case resumed yesterday.
However, the prosecutor informed the court that Ada Gaye had not yet been served with the notice of hearing to appear in court.
Prosecutor Ceesay two weeks ago had promised the court that she would serve Gaye the notice. This move prompted the judge, Simon Abi, to adjourn the case to March 24 for plea taking.
Lamin Fatajo and Lamin Mass were in court and were represented by Lamin Camara.
Ada Gaye and the two men were slammed with charges of abuse of office, economic crime and neglect of official duty two weeks ago.Mass and Fatajo are accused of approving the payment of $18, 000 as sitting allowances to some committee members set up to review the micro-finance promotion centre that they were not entitled to, which is detrimental to the economy of The Gambia.
Prosecutors also accused them of authorising the payment of D117,521 as salary advance for the project staff in contravention of the project’s finance and administrative procedure manual.
Ada Gaye, for her part, is accused of neglecting her official duties in the payment of $18, 000 to Sonko Fofana.
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