Alieu Danso, The Proprietor of Almot Real Estate
By Fatou Sillah
Alieu Danso, the proprietor of Almot Real Estate Company, has disclosed before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that he made a profit of eight million dalasis from the sale of land to the KMC Staff Welfare Association. During his testimony, Alieu revealed that he had acquired the land from the original owners for two million dalasis and later partitioned it into plots.
Alieu explained that he agreed to sell 167 plots to the KMC Staff Welfare Association for a total of ten million and twenty-three thousand dalasis (D10,023,000). This transaction was expected to yield a profit of eight million and twenty-three thousand dalasis (D8,023,000). However, he admitted that while the KMC Staff Welfare Association paid him over eight million dalasis, he only paid the landowners D350,000 before the agreement with them was terminated.
The Commission pointed out that at the time of paying D350,000, Alieu had already received over one million dalasis (D1,000,000) from the welfare association. When questioned further, Alieu admitted that the landowners, the Touray family, sought to recover their money after he failed to meet his financial obligations.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez accused Alieu of dishonesty, presenting evidence that the Touray family terminated the contract due to non-payment. The family also submitted a letter detailing payments Alieu received from the KMC Staff Welfare Association, which contradicted his earlier claims that the welfare association had not paid him.
“The Commission has evidence of the termination by the Touray Family,” Gomez said.
The witness stated that he was the one who informed the family that he could no longer proceed with the agreement because they had sold the land to another company.
He further testified that the Touray family took him to the Fraud Squad to facilitate the repayment of his money and to ensure he stayed away from the land. However, the Lead Counsel pointed out that the Touray family took him to the police Fraud Squad due to allegations of fraud.
“You were paid money by the welfare association, and you never really accounted all those monies to the Touray Family,” He Said.
The witness then admitted that the family sought to recover their money because he had failed to pay them.
“They took me to The Fraud Squad because I did not pay them their money,” He said.
The Lead Counsel read a letter addressed to Alieu Danso from the landowners, notifying him of the termination of their land agreement due to his failure to meet his payment obligations. In the letter, the family accused Alieu Danso of misleading them by claiming that the KMC Staff Welfare Association had not been paying him, despite his agreement with them.
However, after conducting their own inquiries, the family outlined in the letter all the payments Alieu Danso had received. Their findings revealed that he had been receiving funds from his clients—the KMC Staff Welfare Association—while failing to fulfill his financial commitments.
“I did not oppose or deny anything in this letter,” the witness said.
The lead counsel told the witness that he acted very differently with the Family.
“You acted very dishonest If you can do this, having over D8,000,000 profit, it means you can bribe people to get your way out,” Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez said.
Lead Counsel Gomez then informed the witness that the allegation regarding his involvement in bribery with Sainabou Martin Sonko for D1,000,000 was accurate.
He further stated that the claim about leaving D30,000 in her office—whether given to her personally or left there—constitutes an offer of a bribe to a public official and that she accepted the bribe, which is a factual matter.
“But you turned around and went to the Mayor to inform him about the D30,000, isn’t that true,” The lead counsel asked. The witness said the D30,000 he gave Sainabou Martin was a loan.
The witness stated that he did not inform the Mayor about the D30,000. He explained that he had been having issues with Sainabou regarding the money, which the Mayor later discovered. The Mayor then asked him about the situation, and he explained that Sainabou had taken a loan from him, claiming she was going to Senegal, but she had not repaid it. The Mayor then told him that he would handle the matter.
Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness that he had requested D4,000,000 from the KMC, but when that request was not granted, he left the D30,000 at Sainabou Martin’s office. When his request was still not fulfilled, he demanded the return of his D30,000.
The witness maintained that the D30,000 was a loan he had given to Sainabou to support her trip to Senegal. Lead Counsel Gomez pointed out that Sainabou had admitted using the D30,000, but that the money had been placed on her table by the witness.
Lead Counsel Gomez further told the witness that he had requested D4,000,000 from the KMC, but it was not approved. After his initial request was denied, the witness admitted that he had written a letter to the KMC asking for the D4,000,000. The letter was already submitted as evidence and marked as an exhibit.