Alleged bank thieves paraded in court

Gibriel Fofana and Lamin Konteh were on 25 July 2017, paraded before Magistrate Abeke of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court and charged on five counts of conspiracy, stealing, making false documents, uttering false documents and unauthorised access to computer data.

Prosecutors alleged that Gibriel Fofana and Lamin Konteh, in January 2017, at Bambo, Serrekunda and diverse places in the Kanifing Municipality, agreed with each other to commit a felony to wit stealing from Guaranty Trust Bank.

It was also alleged that the accused persons in the same month, year and place jointly stole D100, 699 by using secret pin code of Modou Bah, Babucarr Jatta, Yaya Fatty, and Musa K. Bojang, being customers to the bank, the property of the said customers held in trust at the said bank.

Prosecutors further alleged that the accused persons in the same month, year and place made false National Identity cards of the said customers purporting to be the authentic identity cards of the bank’s customers.

The accused persons were alleged to have jointly, fraudulently altered false National Identity cards of the said customers purporting to be authentic identity cards of the customers, being holders of various accounts with the said bank in the same month, year and place.

Prosecutors further alleged that Lamin Konteh in the same month, year and place, being an employee of the bank, tampered with the bank’s computer system to authorize payment of D100, 699 from the accounts of the said customers by using their secret pin codes.

When the charge sheet was read to them, they pleaded guilty on count one and two but Lamin Koneth contested the amount on the charge sheet on count two.

Magistrate Abeke then entered a plea of not guilty on count two on behalf of Lamin Konteh.

Both of them pleaded not guilty on counts three, four and five.

They were subsequently granted court bail of D500,000 with two Gambian sureties each, who should swear to an affidavit of means and surrender their ID cards to the registrar of the court.

The case was adjourned to 1 August 2017, for the prosecutor to present his witnesses for hearing.