Funds
from a dollar bank account in the name of the Jammeh Foundation for Peace, a
charity founded by Gambia’s former president Yahya Jammeh, flowed to Jammeh
himself, not to foundation projects, according to bank records and interviews
with a former charity official and a former presidential staff member.
In
2012 and 2013, over $8 million was paid into the account at Gambia’s Trust
Bank. Over half of the money was withdrawn in cash, Reuters has found.
Reuters
was unable to determine whether donors intended to support the charity, or if
donors, charity officials and the bank were aware that Jammeh was using the
account to build his personal wealth. Reuters could not determine how the
withdrawn money was spent.
Gambia’s
new government has accused the former president of plundering many millions of
dollars during his 22-year rule.
On
Monday, Finance Minister Amadou Sanneh said Jammeh had committed fraud on a
massive scale, including siphoning off tens of millions of dollars in public
money into various bank accounts not in his name, but from which he withdrew
cash, including at the central bank.
The
Jammeh Foundation for Peace’s former deputy CEO, Modou Lamin Manga, told
Reuters that the charity did not at the time receive donations via the dollar
account, which was one of two accounts held in the foundation’s name at Trust
Bank, during Manga’s tenure from 2010 to 2015. Manga was let go from the
foundation during layoffs in 2015.
The
Jammeh Foundation for Peace did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
An official at Gambia’s Trust Bank Ltd, who declined to be named, confirmed the
foundation banked there, but declined to give further details.
Attempts
to contact Jammeh in Equatorial Guinea, where he fled into exile last month
after an election defeat, were unsuccessful.
Edward
Gomez, Jammeh’s lawyer until last month, said he was unaware of any misspending
by Jammeh.
“I
know that many people have benefited from the foundation, but I can’t say where
the money came from and who had access to it,” Gomez said.
The
bank statements reviewed by Reuters showed that over $8 million was deposited
in 11 installments into the U.S. dollar account in the foundation’s name at
Trust Bank in 2012 and 2013. All of the money was withdrawn.
There
were 15 cash withdrawals in 2012 and 2013, ranging from $75,000 to over
$500,000: $4.3 million in total. A further $1.5 million was transferred to
overseas accounts, the statements show.
The
remainder was drawn down in letters of credit, miscellaneous withdrawals and
interest charges.
Some
cash withdrawals give direct reference to Jammeh, who at the time was the
foundation’s chief patron, meaning he lent his name in support of its work.
Manga said Jammeh played only an occasional role in the foundation’s
activities. These include education, health and agricultural projects,
according to its website.
In
March 2013, a $75,930 withdrawal was detailed as: “CASH WDL B/O DR YAHYA AJJ
JAMMEH”. A Trust Bank worker interviewed by Reuters said that B/O stood for “by
order of” and WDL stood for “withdrawal”.
Reuters
was unable to determine the source of most of the money in the account.
But
five payments into the account in 2013 totaling $2.55 million reference Euro
African Group, or its acronym EAGL, according to the transaction details on the
statements, including one $500,000 payment on May 8, 2013 described as “FUNDS
TRF B/O EURO AFRICAN.”
Euro
African held exclusive rights to import fuel to Gambia between 2008 and 2013,
and a fuel supply deal to the state-run utility.
Euro
African head Mohamed Bazzi told Reuters the company made three payments to the
foundation totalling $1.3 million in 2013. Bazzi did not specify which account
the money was paid into. Reuters was unable to account for the difference
between this total and that reflected on the bank statements. Bazzi was unable
to explain the difference.
Bazzi,
a prominent Lebanese businessman who has done business in Gambia for over a
decade, told Reuters the money went towards a mosque, a hospital and bringing in
foreign doctors to Gambia. Bazzi said Euro African made the payments on behalf
of a telecommunications company that he declined to name. The
telecommunications company was a separate entity and the money was not Euro
African’s money, he said.
The
statements also show a $99,982.50 payment was made on April 17, 2013 by
Selectra AG, a Swiss-based engineering firm. Selectra did not respond to
requests for comment.
MONEY
FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
The
foundation’s former deputy CEO Manga said he first became aware of the account
and the deposits, when Trust Bank accidentally sent him statements for the
dollar account in 2013. He said he thought the money could be used to fund
scholarships and a hospital.
Unlike
the Trust Bank account that the charity used for everyday expenses, this one
held dollars, not dalasis, the local currency, and had far more money.
When
Manga approached officials at Trust Bank Ltd about the account in 2013, they
told him not to touch the money, he said. The account manager told him it was
“Yahya’s” (Jammeh’s) account, Manga said.
“We
were struggling to run communities and we had all this money in this account.
Why couldn’t we make use of it?” said Manga.
A
former member of Jammeh’s staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he
frequently collected money from the foundation dollar account at the
president’s request, and returned to State House with bags filled with cash in
bundles of $10,000, wrapped in a paper band carrying the Trust Bank seal.
“Whenever
Jammeh needed money, he would go to that (foundation) account and withdraw
money. If his wife went travelling, they would take money out,” he said.
Reuters
was unable to reach Jammeh’s wife, who until last month was the foundation’s
president and closely involved in the running of the charity, according to the
website.
Another
source who worked as a personal assistant for Jammeh from 2009-2012 and who was
fired and jailed for espionage, charges he denies, said he withdrew hundreds of
thousands of dollars in cash in 2011 and 2012 from another account, called the
National Security Account at Trust Bank, on Jammeh’s behalf.
Other
times, he said he wired money from that account to Jammeh’s wife’s personal
account in the United States.
Trust
Bank declined to comment on the National Security Account, and who had access
to it.
ROLLS
ROYCES, MANSIONS
Jammeh’s
spending hinted at his riches. He had a fleet of black Rolls Royce limousines
whose headrests carry his name embroidered in dark thread, and a house in
Maryland, according to a Reuters witness and a U.S. official.
On
a trip to New York for a U.N. summit in 2002, Jammeh had $1 million in cash in
cellophane wrapping brought to his hotel room, his former lobbyist John Aycoth
told Reuters. He bought expensive watches and tipped a dental hygienist $20,000,
said Aycoth, who successfully sued the Gambian government in a U.S. court for
failure to compensate his firm in 2006.
Reuters
could not independently confirm these accounts.
“I
know he had great wealth. I have no doubt about that,” said Jammeh’s former lawyer
Gomez.
Gambia’s
new leaders said Jammeh took a fleet of luxury cars with him into exile.
Now,
in the aftermath of his rule, many Gambians demand his wealth be returned
immediately. The country’s economy is in tatters with only three weeks left of
import funds.
“The
president and his government will take all steps and measures to ensure that
all the lost, stolen and misappropriated assets are returned to the Gambian
people,” Gambian Finance Minister Sanneh told reporters on Monday.
Source: Reuters
