Ousman Badjie trial: Another witness testifies

PW3 Malick Sillah, whilst testifying at the Banjul High Court before Justice Simon Abi, told the court that he is a senior accountant working at the Accountant General’s Office at the Ministry of Finance.

He did not know Faisal Bojang in person, but has heard of the name, he further told the court, adding that Faisal Bojang was a staff of the Accountant General’s Office and the financial attaché at the Gambia’s Embassy in Paris, France.

Sillah said between 14 and 30 June 2014, he was among the people who went to the embassy in Paris to review the accounts, and install a new financial attaché.

They checked November and December 2013 and January 2014 accounts, he said, adding that they then billed for January to June 2014.

After that, he explained, they went to the bank and came back to do their report, and submitted it.

Asked whether he would be able to recognize it and how, he said he would be able to recognize it because it has green colours at the edge.

The report was shown to him, and he recognised it and the state applied to tender it as an exhibit.

Defence counsel L.S. Camara said they were seeing the document for the first time, but he was not objecting to tendering it.

The report was then tendered in court and marked as an exhibit.

Continuing his testimony, the witness said the accused was the head of the Gambia’s Embassy in Paris.

Under cross-examination, defence counsel Camara told the witness that he said in his evidence-in-chief that Faisal Bojang was a staff of the Gambia Accountant General’s Office and the witness replied in the affirmative.

“As financial attaché, do you know whom he was answerable to?” counsel asked.

The witness replied that according to the FSR, the financial attaché is under the head of chancery.

“In the case of Paris at that time, was there any head of Chancery?”

“At that time, there was no head of chancery and the deputy head of mission was the head of chancery,” said the witness.

The case was adjourned to 24 March 2015.