The finding is contained in the committee’s report on the sale and disposal of assets identified by the Commission of Inquiry into the financial dealings of public bodies with the former president. According to the report, a cross-check of court records and the Commission’s property list uncovered what the committee described as an inexplicable omission.
The committee noted that on 22 May 2017 the High Court issued an order freezing 131 landed properties across the country pending investigation by the Attorney General. A second order issued on 21 July 2017 added another 49 properties, bringing the total number of frozen properties under the two orders to 180.
However, the committee discovered that not all of these properties were investigated by the Commission.
In reviewing the records, investigators compared the 131 properties listed in the first court order with the 291 landed properties documented by the Commission in its annexes. Using serial and lease registration numbers to identify each property, the committee determined whether the same properties appeared in the Commission’s records.
The committee found that about 57 properties listed in the High Court order were not investigated by the Commission at all.
To reach this conclusion, the committee considered a property as not investigated where its serial registration number did not appear in the Commission’s records or where the same serial number appeared but was linked to a completely different location.
While the names of some properties appeared similar, the committee explained that without matching serial numbers there was no reliable way to confirm whether they referred to the same parcels of land.
It stated in its report that it found it difficult to explain how properties frozen under a High Court order could have been left out of the Commission’s investigation.
The report also examined how the government later handled the properties that were identified by the Commission. These assets were categorized into several groups, including properties purchased outright, properties seized from third parties, public land grants by the state and district authorities, community land allocations, properties with pending claims and properties acquired through judicial sales.
The government accepted the Commission’s findings on most of these categories. However, it rejected recommendations concerning several properties acquired through outright purchase. These included Ndebaan Clinic, Central Abattoir, Farato Farms, Kanilai Farms, Santangba Sanyang, Banjulinding Farms and Barra Coconut Plantation.
For properties seized from third parties and those allocated through state or community land grants, the government accepted the Commission’s recommendations in full.
To handle disputes involving third-party claims, the government established an Inter-Ministerial Taskforce made up of the Attorney General and several cabinet ministers, supported by a technical committee of senior government officials.
But the committee’s investigation found that the taskforce went beyond the role assigned to it in the government’s White Paper. Instead of focusing only on third-party claims, the taskforce expanded its mandate and began examining properties that the Commission had already made clear recommendations about.
According to the committee, this effectively created a second opportunity for some parties to challenge decisions that had already been settled by the Commission.
The report also revealed that additional properties believed to belong to Jammeh were discovered after the Commission completed its work. In 2022, officials from the Attorney General’s Chambers identified 12 previously undisclosed landed properties and reported them to the Office of the President.
The committee noted that some properties flagged by the Commission for further investigation including locations in Kerr Serign Njagga, Kairaba Avenue, Lamin Kerewan-Swami Layout and Gifanga Village were never followed up by the Executive.
In light of these findings, the committee has recommended a nationwide land audit to verify all properties linked to the former president and his associates. It also called for a consolidated digital asset register listing every property forfeited to the state.
Most significantly, the committee urged the government to investigate whether certain properties were deliberately withheld from the Commission. It recommended that the police examine any fraudulent concealment of Jammeh-linked assets and prosecute any officials found responsible.
The report further calls for a supplementary investigation into all properties frozen by the High Court but not examined by the Commission, with the findings to be submitted to the National Assembly within 90 days.
