The
Director of Public Prosecutions, S.H. Barkun, yesterday dropped charges against
Edrissa Mass Jobe, and brought more charges against nine others, in the GNPC
case before Justice O. Ottaba of the Special Criminal Court in Banjul.
The
accused persons on the amended charge sheet 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.
They
were charged with economic crimes, conspiracy to commit felony, neglect of
official duty, disobedience of statutory duty, and destroying evidence.
When
the case was called, DPP S.H. Barkun, A. Yakubu, B. Jaiteh and A. Adeyemi
appeared for the state, whilst senior counsel I.D. Drammeh, H.S. Sabally, R.Y.
Mendy, Y. Senghore, B. Conteh, B.
Bouye, E. Sanneh, E. Gomez and L.S. Camara represented the defendants.
DPP
Barkun then informed the court that they had filed an amended charge sheet in
the morning.
He
said the amended charge sheet has nine accused persons instead of 10, adding
that the name of the 4th accused, Edrissa Mass Jobe, has been dropped from the
recent charge sheet.
Whilst
they intended to prosecute the rest of the accused persons on the amended
charge, they would like to withdraw all charges against Edrissa Mass Jobe,
which is the prosecution application.
Counsel
I.D. Drammeh, who represented the 4th accused, said they wished to ask for the
charges to be dismissed, and would like the court to make a specific order for
all the obligations in the bail bond to end, and documents be released to the
4th accused since there was no charge pending.
The
trial judge said the application to amend and to drop charges against the 4th
accused persons was granted, and the principal registrar was ordered to release
his documents and all obligations in the bail bond were revoked.
He,
therefore, discharged the 4th accused accordingly.
The
4th accused, Edrissa Mass Jobe, then walked out of the dock and left the court
house.
The
DPP then asked for the charges to be read to the accused persons.
However, counsel Drammeh said she was just
being served in court and her client had not been able to receive instructions
in taking her plea.
She
then asked for five minutes to speak to the DPP, which was granted.
After a few minutes with the DPP outside the
courtroom, the DPP and counsel Drammeh returned to the courtroom.
The DPP then told the court that with consent
from counsel Drammeh, he the DPP would like to proceed with plea-taking.
At
this juncture, senior counsel H.S. Sabally rose and said: “I was served with
the amended charge at 12:55 today; so that is the indictment before the court
which consists of 8 counts. My lord will notice that the previous charge is 3
counts and the amended charge is 8 counts. My client has not been able to go
through it, and I have just learned it briefly. Ultimately, my client is not
ready to take his plea today; so we can come back on Monday.”
She
continued: “May I remind the court that, my lord will also notice that the list
of exhibits is attached, but the exhibits are not attached; so for my client to
take his plea, these documents should be provided and the court made an order
for it to be provided.”
Responding,
the DPP said they were very much aware of the court’s order, but the law did
not say they should serve it with the charge.
The
accused persons should be informed of the charges first, so when that was done
they could now serve them with the documents.
The charges have no independent meaning and
this was not a new situation, he said, adding that an adjournment in the matter
would “only cause delay”, and if the court would allow them they were ready to
proceed with their witnesses.
The
fact that they had new charges did not constitute new circumstance that would
warrant adjournment, he added.
Counsel
Sabally said her client, Cherno Marena, was charged before the court just
because he is a board member of GNPC, and they had witnessed the chairman of
the board being discharged and charges against him dropped.
“I
have not come to court to delay proceedings. I am here to defend my client to
the best of my ability,” she said.
The
rest of the defence team associated themselves with counsel Sabally’s
submissions.
The
trial judge, in his ruling, stated that for the fact that there was an amended
charge, it was in the interest of justice that the defence be given time to
consult with their clients.
The
case continues 24 October 2016, at 2pm.
The
amended charge in count one stated that Sira Wally Ndow-Njai, Momodou O.S.
Badjie, Fafa Sanyang, Cherno Marena, Seedy Kanyi and Muntaga Momodou Sallah,
sometime in 2015 in Banjul and other diverse places, while serving in their
various capacities as public officers by willful act or omission cause economic
loss to the Government of The Gambia to the tune of seven million and sixty
nine thousand, eight hundred dollars and eighty cents ($7,069, 800.80),
equivalent to three hundred and twenty nine million four hundred and fifty-six
thousand, four hundred and forty-one dalasis (D329, 456, 441.00), by causing
the Government of The Gambia to make payment to March Trading, which act was
injurious, detrimental and damaging to the economy of The Gambia.
Count
two read that Sira Wally Ndow-Njai, Momodou O.S. Badjie, Fafa Sanyang, Cherno
Marena, Muntaga Momodou Sallah, Momodou Taal and Louie Moses Mendy, sometime in
the same year and place, while serving in their various capacities as public
officers and by willful act or omission, caused economic loss to the Government
of The Gambia to the tune of three million, six hundred and ten thousand, six
hundred and fifty-six dalasis ( D3, 610, 656.00), being monies expended for air
tickets and perdiem on due diligence mission to Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates (the purpose for which was not fulfilled) and signing or causing a
contract to be signed with March Trading, which act was injurious, detrimental,
and damaging to the economy of The Gambia.
Count
three further stated that Sira Wally Ndow-Njai, Momodou O.S. Badjie, Fafa
Sanyang, and Cherno Marena, sometime in the same year and place, while serving
in their various capacities as public officers, conspired amongst themselves to
commit felony to wit: by willful act or omission, caused economic loss to the
Government of The Gambia.
Count
four stated that Sira Wally Ndow-Njai, Momodou O.S. Badjie, Fafa Sanyang, and
Cherno Marena, in the same year and places, while serving in their various
capacity as public officers and whilst on due diligence mission to Dubai United
Arab Emirates on the competence and capacity of March Trading to supply fuel to
the Government of The Gambia, willfully neglected to execute such mission in
accordance with the Gambia Public Procurement Act.
Count
five also stated that Sira Wally Ndow-Njai, Momodou O.S. Badjie, Fafa Sanyang,
and Cherno Marena, in the same year and places, while serving in their various
capacity as public officers and whilst on due diligence mission to Dubai United
Arab Emirates on the competence and capacity of March Trading to supply fuel to
the Government of The Gambia, willfully omitted to comply with the requirements
of the GPPA.
Count
six stated that Momodou O.S. Badjie, in the same year and place while serving
as the Managing Director of the Gambia National Petroleum Company (GNPC),
willfully neglected to advertise the pre-qualification bidding process for the
contract of supply of petroleum to the GNPC in accordance with the Gambia
procurement Act.
Count
seven read that Momodou O.S. Badjie, in the same year and place while, serving
as the Managing Director of the Gambia National Petroleum Company (GNPC),
willfully neglected to advertise the pre-qualification bidding process for the
contract of supply of petroleum to the GNPC as required by the GPPA Act.
Count
eight indicated that Noah Touray, in the same year and place while, serving as
Secretary to Cabinet in the Office of the President, knowing that a file
pertaining to the contract with GNPC and March Petroleum could be used in
judicial proceedings against Sira Wally Now-Njai as evidence in court,
willfully removed and destroyed the said file.
