The
Special Criminal Court in Banjul presided over by Justice O. Ottaba yesterday
refused to revoke the bail of GNPC officials.
They
were charged with eight counts ranging from conspiracy to commit felony,
neglect of official and disobedience of statutory duty, as well as for
destroying evidence.
The
accused persons are Sira Wally Ndow-Njai, Momodou O.S. Badjie, Fafa Sanyang,
Cherno Marena, Seedy Kanyi, Muntaga Momodou Sallah, Momodou Taal, Louie Moses
Mendy and Noah Touray.
When
the case was called, DPP S.H. Barkun appeared for the state alongside A. Mendy.
The
defendants were represented by senior counsel A.A.B. Gaye, S.M. Tambadou, L.S.
Camara, A.N.D. Bensouda, H.S. Sabally, R.Y. Mendy, B.S. Touray, B. Conteh, Y.
Senghore, B. Bouye, P. Gomez, Mene, S. Sillah, and E.E. Chimmeh.
Delivering
his ruling on the DPP’s application to revoke the bail of the accused persons,
Justice Ottaba said when the accused persons pleaded not guilty, the Director
of Public Prosecutions (DPP) S.H. Barkun asked the court to revoke the bail of
the accused persons, on the grounds that there was an amended information
before the court.
In
response, counsel Sisay-Sabally argued that the DPP’s application was not
supported by any law, but that it was based on the DPP’s opinion. She said the
application was irrelevant.
Justice
Ottaba said the other lawyers also associated themselves with the submission of
counsel Sabally.
“I
have critically examined the bail conditions of the accused persons. It is
pertinent to observe that the accused persons had fulfilled the bail conditions
and were regular in court.”
He
said the accused persons’ bail could only be revoked when they jumped bail or
commit similar offence, among other things.
He
said the DPP asked the court to revoke the bail of the accused persons due to
the fact that an amended charge has been filed.
The
trial judge further said the amount of dollars in the previous charge was more
than the amount in the amended charge, which has been reduced.
He
said the 3rd accused person, Fafa Sanyang, whose name was not included in the
amount on the previous charge, has now been included in the amended charge.
He,
therefore, reviewed his bail conditions and granted him bail of US$1.3 million
with Gambian sureties residing within the jurisdiction of the court with a
landed property.
For
the other accused persons, who are on bail, the trial judge, said: “I find and
hold that there are no circumstances that can warrant the court to revoke the
bail of the accused persons. The DPP’s application is hereby dismissed.”
After
the ruling, the DPP told the court that the state was ready to proceed with the
hearing of the matter.
The
trial judge then said there are three other bail applications pending before
the court, if it could be considered first.
Senior
Counsel Gaye then told the court that they had just been served with the
affidavit in opposition and would like to reply to it.
It was granted by the court, but no time was
given to them.
Proceeding
with hearing of the matter, Bakary Darboe, a Police Chief Inspector attached to
the Major Crime Unit at the Police Headquarters in Banjul testified as the
first prosecution witness.
In
his testimony, he said he knew Sira Wally Ndow-Njai, Fafa Sanyang, Cherno
Marena, Pa Modou Taal, Louie Moses Mendy, and Muntaga Momodou Sallah.
He
said he obtained cautionary statements from them in relation to an
investigation.
He
said on 25th, 26th and 27th August 2016, he obtained cautionary statements from
those accused persons.
“I
first invited them and introduced myself to them. I informed them that they are
here to offer a statement. I read the cautionary wordings to them. They
understood very well and signed. After which they opted to write their own
statements,” he said.
He
said he would identify the statements because it bears his name.
The statements were shown to him and he
identified them in court.
The
DPP then applied to tender them in court.
Counsel
for the accused persons did not object to tendering of the statements, which
were tendered in court and marked in evidence as exhibits.
Hearing
continues on 2 November 2016, from 4pm to 6pm.
