By Bruce Asemota
One Muhammed Sissoho, a businessman and a resident of Talinding Njago Town, has yesterday testified as the fourth prosecution witness in the criminal trial involving the state and three top senior government officials.
The Balla Kandeh, Omar Malleh Ceesay and Muhammed Lamin Jaiteh are facing 21 counts including economic crime, corruption, and statutory disobedience relating to more than D11 million misappropriated from the Global Fund.
The witness said he first met the accused persons at the police fraud squad office in Banjul but said he was acquainted with Lamin Jarju, now late, the deputy programme manager for Global Fund in Kanifing.
He said he first met Jarju in 2015 during distribution of treated bednets.
He said in 2019, Jarju summoned him and informed him that he has a contract with a Senegalese and requested a “favour” from him in the form of cashing a D500,000 Access Bank cheque.
He said Jarju gave him D20,000 and when he raised concern, he assured him that “there was no problem”.
He said on the second occasion, Jarju met him at the GTSC depot in Kanifing and gave him another Access Bank cheque of over five hundred thousand dalasis and handed over the cash to him on the road from the Pipeline Mosque to the Independence Stadium and Jarju again gave him D20,000.
He said on the third occasion, Jarju told him he wanted to pay his workers upcountry and gave him a D600,000 Access Bank cheque to cash for him.
Again, he was given D20,000, and said Jarju requested that he traveled with him to the provinces the following day as his driver was sick.
He said each time Jarju gave him D20,000 after cashing a cheque for him, he would give him a blank white paper and ask him to append his signature to it.
He said he travelled with Jarju to Farafenni Hospital and proceeded to Bansang.
Hearing continues on Mach 25 and is presided over by Justice Ebrima Jaiteh..
