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Former Home Finance manager testifies in court

Nov 18, 2011, 9:31 AM | Article By: Bakary Samateh

Paul Joseph Bahoum, former financial manager at the Home Finance Company under the management of the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSFHC) yesterday testified in the economic crimes case involving Edward Graham, former managing director of the SSHFC.

Edward Graham, who was accused of stealing D73, 000 in 2010, is facing an economic crimes charge at the Special Criminal Court Division of the High Court in Banjul.

 In his testimony, Paul Bahoum told the court that he is a private financial consultant, but before that he was the financial manager at the Home Finance Company, between 2003 and 2010.

He pointed out that his responsibilities included to manage monies of Home Finance Company and book-keeping.

 He told the court that in 2008 he retired from active service and, in 2009 and 2010, he was awarded a contract by the Home Finance Company.

“I was assigned to train a new finance manager for a period of two months, but the applicant was not the appropriate person for the post,” he added.

 Mr. Bahoum said he told them that he could not train somebody who could not handle this position,  adding that he later decided to write a letter to the management of the SSHFC regarding the new finance manager.

He identified the said letter in court as the one he wrote to the management of the corporation, stating that he could not train somebody who did not have an accounting background, as it would make the training longer than expected by the management.

He said that the training of new finance manager would involve more costs for the Home Finance Company, and that after he wrote the letter to the management, he decided to quit.

 The case at that juncture was adjourned till 22nd November 2011.