By Bruce Asemota
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice has filed a suit before the High Court seeking an order to forfeit sixteen million, three hundred and thirty nine thousand, six hundred and fifty-one dalasi, seventy-one butut (D16,339,651.71) to the state.
The said amount was established by the High Court presided over by Justice Zainab Jawara Alami as a proceed of crime in the trial involving the state against one Yankuba Jabbi.
Yankuba Jabbi was convicted and sentenced on two counts of conspiracy and attempt to launder the said money sometime between 2013 and 2014.
The money was alleged to have been wired from Sao Tome and Principe to the accused person Yankuba Jabbi in The Gambia.
Whilst the matter was being heard at the High Court, the State applied for an interim order to freeze the said money at the Standard Chartered Bank, which was granted pending the outcome of the criminal charge against Yankuba Jabbi.
The High Court however found Yankuba Jabbi guilty of conspiracy to launder the said money with one Jarrai Gassama and Rui Alexandre Ribero Mendonce. The court established that there was an attempt to launder the said money gained from an illicit source.
Yankuba Jabbi was sentenced to five years imprisonment on each count with an option of a five hundred thousand dalasi fine on each count.
According to the judge, the prosecution proved the charges of conspiracy to money laundering and attempt to money laundering.
The State, having got judgment in its favour, has now filed a suit for a freezing order for the said money to be forfeited to the state.
