Ministry Of Health Officials at the High Court (Old picture)
By Landing Ceesay
In the ongoing corruption trial concerning the Ministry of Health, Police Investigator Bakary Drammeh of the Gambia Police Force’s Fraud Squad testified in court that they recovered D4,267,147.26 (Four Million, Two Hundred and Sixty-seven Thousand, One Hundred and Forty-seven Dalasis and Twenty-six Bututs) from the Health Promotion and Development Organization (HePDO).
Mr. Drammeh made these statements while testifying as the Tenth Prosecution Witness (PW10) in the ongoing corruption trial involving officials from the Ministry of Health.
The officials on trial include Balla Kandeh, Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP); Omar Malleh Ceesay, Executive Director of HePDO; and Muhammadu Lamin Jaiteh, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health.
They face charges of embezzling and misappropriating funds designated for the Malaria Control Programme during their time in office.
Mr. Drammeh informed the court that he identified the accused at the Fraud Squad offices within the Gambia Police Force.
When asked if he knew Sheriff Corr (PW6) and Modou Gaye (PW8), both members of the Fraud Squad, the witness confirmed that he did.
“We were part of a panel that was investigating the Audit Report of the National Malaria Control Programme from the 1st of October 2018 to 2020,” Mr Drammeh told the court.
“During the course of the investigation, did you recover anything?” Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) AM Yusuf asked.
“Yes, monies were recovered,” Mr. Drammeh responded.
“Can you remember how much?,” DPP Yusuf asked. “Four Million, Four Hundred and Eighty-two Dalasis Twenty six bututs (D4, 000, 482.26), including 3% of the administration fees. That is equivalent to Two Hundred and Sixty-six Thousand, Six Hundred and Sixty-five Dalasis (D266,665.00). The said amount was paid to the Fraud Squad by the Admin and Finance Manager of HePDO,” the witness told the court.
The witness told the court that the recovered monies were deposited with the Central Bank of the Gambia, and the payments of the said monies were made in three installments to the Central Bank.
“Why did you pay the monies in three installments instead of one?” DPP Yusuf asked the witness.
“It depends on the amount of money we receive. Once we receive the money, we immediately deposited it to the Central Bank,” the witness told the court.
Asked how depositing of these monies was made at the Central Bank, the witness testified that a request letter was sent to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health to give them the account details which they use to deposit the monies at the Central Bank. “Once the money is deposited, they give us a deposit receipt. The treasury will provide us a receipt for the payment because they are the custodian of the account,” the witness testified.
“The deposit receipts at the Central Bank. If you see them, will you be able to identify them?” DPP Yusuf asked. And the witness responded affirmatively.
“Yes, my name is written on them and my signature,” the witness told the court. The receipts were shown to the witness for identification, and he identified them as the receipts given to him by the Central Bank of the Gambia.
Director of Public Prosecutions Yusuf subsequently applied to tender the receipts from the Central Bank of The Gambia as evidence, proposing they be marked as exhibits.
The defense team raised no objections to the admissibility of these receipts.
Hon. Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of The Gambia High Court then admitted them into evidence, designating them as exhibits P18, P19, and P20.
As his testimony continued, the witness informed the court that seven payment vouchers were also recovered from HePDO during their investigation.”Can you recall the total amount on the 7 payment vouchers from the National Malaria Control Programme to HePDO?” DPP Yusuf asked.
“I cannot remember the total,” the witness told the court.
The witness informed the court that the vouchers were attached to contract documents and included request letters from HePDO to the National Malaria Control Programme seeking approval. The payments were subsequently sent to the Permanent Secretary.
The seven payment vouchers were presented to the witness for identification, and he confirmed that these were the vouchers retrieved during their investigation.
DPP Yusuf then moved to have the seven payment vouchers admitted as evidence, and they were marked as exhibits.
The Defense raised no objections to the admission of the seven payment vouchers.
Hon. Justice Jaiteh accepted them into evidence and marked them as exhibits accordingly.
The case was then adjourned to today for the continuation of the witness’s testimony.