By Bruce Asemota
Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the High Court in Banjul has ordered one Demba Marena, an official of Supersonicz Financial Company Limited to pay the sum of D1.772,545 being the sum of money belonging to Supersonicz Financial Company Limited allegedly misappropriated by him.
The High Court also ordered him to pay D50.000 for general damages in favour of Supersonicz.
Delivering this judgment last Thursday, Justice Jaiteh disclosed that the writ of summons was accompanied by a statement of claim and affidavit of witness statement of one Momodou Minteh, an internal auditor.
The judge stated that Momodou Minteh, in his affidavit stated that following an email sent on the 25th July 2020 by one Momodou Lamin Jobe, head of operations, internal audit and compliance department commenced investigations which discovered fraudulent transactions at Barra and Farafenni branches of Supersonicz.
The judge said the audit unit also discovered that Demba Marena instructed operations staff at Barra branch to deposit monies into his personal account instead of Supersonicz company’s account, and that between April 2022 to July 2022, a total amount of D1,647.000 was deposited into his account.
Justice Jaiteh disclosed that it was during the same period that Demba Marena withdrew from his account at Trust Bank, monies amounting to D1,644.000 and as a result of the fraudulent transaction employed by Demba Marena, Supersonicz suffered losses amounting to D1.772,545. The judge stated that these averments or evidence was never challenged or disputed by the defendant.
Justice Jaiteh further stated that it is a settled principle of law that facts in an affidavits not challenged or controverted are deemed to be admitted.
The trial Judge further said that Demba Marena failed to give logical explanation as regards the huge sums of monies deposited in his personal account.
He further disclosed that the defendant, Demba Marena was absent in court despite being served with a hearing notice to cross examine Momodou Minteh.
Justice Jaiteh pointed out that the defendant has a legal obligation to act honestly and deposit monies meant for the company in its accounts.
He said the fraudulent act of the defendant is a betrayal of trust and therefore awarded a statutory interest of 4% to Supersonicz against the defendant from the date of judgment up to the date of final liquidation of the judgment sum.
