Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh may not have cleaned out state coffers after all after reports of an $11m Jammeh loot went viral early in the we
Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh may not have cleaned out state coffers after all after reports of an $11m Jammeh loot went viral early in the week. A member of the transitional government said the former leader left the country with the cash. Mai Fatty, a lawyer and member of the transitional government had told newsmen in Senegal that Gambia was in financial distress and that Jammeh withdrew $11m from the country’s central bank within a period of two weeks.
Official spokesman of the new Gambian government, Halifa Sallah at a news conference on Monday evening however described as baseless the comments made by his fellow official. Sallah said there was no factual evidence to that effect to substantiate Fatty’s wild allegations about an $11m Jammeh loot. He further said all financial institutions in The Gambia, including the Central Bank of the Gambia were functioning well, and that there was no such missing funds as claimed by Fatty.
“I have said to the international press that a government must work on the basis of its institutions and its institutional processes. Allegations of theft cannot just be made by any member of an Executive. It is not the domain of the Executive. Allegations of anything that is a crime must be passed onto the Inspector General of police. And they are the competent authority that should conduct investigation of anything reported to them,” Sallah said.
Jammeh is presently on exile in Equitorial Guinea while new President Adama Barrow prepares to return to Gambia from Senegal as soon as ECOWAS troops deem Banjul safe enough for his return.
