Alagie Dicko at the Kanifing Magistrate Court
The Kanifing Magistrate’s Court has convicted Alagie Dicko on charges of fraud, following a sophisticated scam in which he impersonated several respected religious leaders to defraud a US-based philanthropist of over $350,000.
Principal Magistrate Krubally presided over the case and found Dicko guilty of obtaining money by false pretenses, in violation of Section 288 of the Criminal Code. The court imposed a D100,000 fine and ordered Dicko to pay $180,000 in compensation to the victim, Ousainou Maharana, or serve consecutive prison sentences in default.
The conviction followed extensive testimony and documentation revealing that Dicko posed as prominent Islamic figures—Imam Chebou Cham, Imam Abdoulie Fatty, Imam Ali Trawally, and a man named Imam Gabu—to solicit funds under the guise of supporting charitable causes including orphanage schools, borehole drilling, and community gardens.
According to the prosecution, led by ASP Sarr and Inspector Saidykhan, Dicko first approached Mr. Maharana in 2019, claiming to be a student at Imam Trawally’s Arabic school and requested support for school fees. Maharana, moved by the appeal, began offering financial assistance. Dicko later escalated the deception, using phone calls to impersonate Imams, requesting funds for feeding 200 children, land development in Jarra Soma, and building boreholes.
Fabricated agreements, photographs of fake projects, and regular updates—often delivered through impersonated phone calls—helped Dicko maintain the illusion for years. He further claimed that due to unspecified problems in The Gambia, the children had to be relocated to Ghana, where he sought additional funds for transportation, accommodation, and land acquisition.
In a bizarre twist, Dicko even impersonated President Adama Barrow in a phone call to Maharana, falsely affirming the legitimacy of the charitable projects and claiming a $300,000 donation from a Saudi national was frozen by a Ghanaian bank.
The elaborate fraud began to unravel when Maharana received a video call from a man named Hamaidou, who was in the presence of the real Imam Chebou Cham. During the call, the Imam confirmed he had never met Maharana, nor had he traveled to Ghana or Ivory Coast. Moments later, while still on the call, Dicko—posing as the same Imam—called Maharana again to request money for food.
This prompted Maharana and his business partner, Hamedu Dukureh, to set up a sting operation. Dicko’s nephew, sent to collect money on his behalf, was apprehended and confessed to acting under Dicko’s instructions. Dicko’s wife was also arrested. Dicko, then in Ghana, was extradited with assistance from Interpol and was arrested upon arrival in The Gambia.
The prosecution presented 66 money transfer receipts and two passports under different names—Alagie Dicko and Alagie Camara—used by the accused to receive funds. No funds were recovered, and none of the projects materialized. All the religious leaders Dicko had cited denied any involvement or awareness of the scheme.
Dicko pleaded guilty to the charge but disputed the amount involved in two specific transactions. He claimed he had mentioned “Imam Kebbeh” being ill, not Imam Fatty. Nonetheless, Principal Magistrate Krubally ruled that Dicko’s confession and the overwhelming evidence left no room for doubt.
In his plea for leniency, Dicko said he had not invested in property and had used the funds for failed attempts to migrate to the United States. He requested to repay the money in monthly installments of D50,000, citing his role as a husband and father of three. The court rejected this proposal, deeming it unrealistic.
Instead of imposing an immediate custodial sentence, the court, invoking Section 29(3) of the Criminal Code, imposed a fine of D100,000, with a one-year imprisonment term in default. In addition, the court, acting on the prosecution’s request and citing Section 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Section 31 of the Criminal Code, ordered Dicko to pay $180,000 in compensation to Mr. Maharana. Failure to pay would result in a two-year prison sentence, to run consecutively with the sentence for the fine.