Judicial secretary denied bail

As Justice Amina Saho-Ceesay Granted Bail

Justice Amina Saho-Ceesay who was remanded in custody by the Banjul Magistrates' Court after pleading not guilty to a charge preferred against her was yesterday granted a court bail.

She was granted court bail in the sum of D4m Dalasi with three Gambian sureties, all of whom must have a landed property within the Greater Banjul Area.

The condition further stipulated that she should be reporting to the court every Friday, and also ordered to deposit her travelling documents with the court.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Secretary, Haruna Jaiteh was denied bail on the grounds that he is likely to abscond if granted bail.

When the case resumed yesterday, the Prosecuting Officer, Superintendent Yaya Touray told the court that the prosecution was applying for an adjournment to a fortnight as the case file is sent to the Attorney-General Chambers for legal advice.

In delivering his ruling, following the bail application made by the Defence Counsel, Magistrate Nkea stated that after carefully listening to both the defence and the prosecution, he had averted his mind that, the offence committed is bailable.

He however, added that the court should also take into consideration the nature of the case before granting the accused persons bail. As he put it, when an accused person is involved in such a serious case, there is likelihood that he or she would abscond.

It could be recalled that the three senior judicial officials, namely Justice Amina Saho-Ceesay, Justice Ngui Mboob-Janneh and Haruna Jaiteh Judicial Secretary, were on 2ndDecember 2009 arraigned before Magistrate Emmanuel Nkea of the Banjul Magistrates' Court, charged with stealing by clerk or servant. All of them denied the charges.

Justice Amina Saho-Ceesay, who was represented by Antuman Gaye, is accused of stealing D2, 000.000 (two million Dalasi) and US$ 1000 between the year 2005 to 2009, at the Sheriff Division of the High Court, being the property of The Gambia government.

Justice Ngui Mboob-Janneh, the second to be arraigned, is accused of stealing D803, 000 and 900 pound sterling between 2005 to 2009, at the Sheriff Division.

She was subsequently granted a court bail on the grounds that she is under pregnancy in the sum of D1.5m Dalasi with two Gambian sureties, each of whom must have a landed property within the Greater Banjul Area.

Mr. Haruna Jaiteh, the Judicial Secretary who was represented by A.A. Bensuda, is accused of stealing D1, 017,000 between 2005 and 2009, at the Sheriff Division.

He is still remanded in custody.

The case was adjourned to 16thDecember 2009.