Former Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service and also minister of Presidential Affairs was yesterday arraigned before the Banjul Magistrates Court charged with abuse of office and conspiracy to commit a felony.
Dr Njogu Bah, who appeared before senior Magistrate Lamin Mbai, is jointly charged alongside ex-Justice minister Lamin Jobarteh and former Solicitor General and Legal Secretary, Pa Harry Jammeh who was not in court.
Jobarteh and Pa Harry, who were earlier arraigned before the Banjul Magistrates Court, now face fresh charges.
The trio are charged with abuse of office and two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to Section 369 of the Criminal Code Cap 10 Volume Three Laws of The Gambia 2009.
On count one, Dr Njogu Bah, Lamin Jobarteh and Pa Harry Jammeh were charged that in the year 2013, they acted in their capacities as former Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and Solicitor General and Legal Secretary and respectively terminated and sent Justice Joseph Wowo, acting Chief Justice of The Gambia out of the country, and formed a task force to look into the activities of the Tax Commission initiated by the President, and thereby committed an offence.
On count two, Dr Njogu Bah, Lamin Jobarteh and Pa Harry Jammeh are accused of jointly conspiring among themselves in the year 2013 as former Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and Solicitor General and Legal Secretary respectively, and forcefully terminated the services of Justice Joseph Wowo and sent him out of the country, which decision was prejudicial to the rights of Justice Joseph Wowo, and thereby committed an offence.
On count three, prosecutors accused Dr Njogu Bah, Lamin Jobarteh and Pa Harry Jammeh of conspiring among themselves as former Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and Solicitor General and Legal Secretary respectively, and formed a task force to look into the activities of the Tax Commission initiated by the President.
However, the accused persons could not take their plea due to the absence of the second accused person, Pa Harry Jammeh, who was on bail in another matter.
The police prosecuting officer, Chief Inspector Badjie, told the court that the prosecution was objecting to bail for the accused persons, as the investigation was still ongoing.
Chief Inspector Badjie further told the court that the prosecution was applying for a bench warrant for the second accused person to be arrested and detained for the fresh charges against hm.
In response, the defence counsel, Lamin L.K. Mboge, told the court that the defence was applying for bail on behalf of his clients, adding that the alleged offences committed are bailable offences.
He further stated that Jobarteh had been in custody for 32 days, even though the court granted him bail and he had fulfilled all his bail conditions.
Delivering his ruling, the trial magistrate told the court that though bail was at the discretion of the court, one needed to consider certain factors before granting any accused person bail.
Consequently, he granted the accused persons bail of D100,000 each with one Gambian surety, who must deposit a biometric identification card.
The bail condition further stipulated that the accused persons should report to a police station from Monday to Friday, and they must also surrender their passports to the registrar of the Banjul Magistrates Court.
The case was then adjourned to 31 July 2013, for hearing.
It would be recalled that Lamin Jobarteh and Pa Harry Jammeh were earlier arraigned under a 10-count charge, which includes conspiracy to defeat justice, abuse of office, official corruption, destroying evidence, and neglect of official duty, charges they had since denied.
Lamin Jobarteh was also alone arraigned on two counts of economic crime, which he had also denied.
