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.
