During his testimony, the third prosecution witness, Modou Gaye, a resident of Jabang, serving in the Gambia Police Force and attached to the Fraud Squad, said the complainant against the accused, Alagie Kebbe, was the Ministry of Agriculture, adding that the ministry entered into a contract in respect of the procurement of rice with 39 vendors.
It would be recalled that the accused, Alagie Kebbe, was charged with two counts of economic crime and theft contrary to sections 5(f) and 245 of the Criminal Code.
The accused, between the year 2020 and 2021 at Banjul, received D64,080,000 (Sixty-four million, Eighty thousand Dalasis) from 39 vendors for the supply of 58,500 bags of 50KG of rice to the Government of The Gambia whilst he delivered only 17,096 bags and “intentionally refused” to deliver the outstanding 41,404 bags of the 50KG of rice.
Also between the year 2020 and 2021, the accused did steal 41,404 (Forty-one thousand four hundred and four) bags of 50KG of rice belonging to the Government of The Gambia (which was meant for distribution to vulnerable families during the Covid-19 pandemic).
The witness Modou Gaye told the court that he recognised the accused from an investigation that he conducted against him regarding undelivered COVID-19 bags of rice which were paid for by the government.
He added that after the arrest of the accused, he, the accused, was confronted with the allegations, after which a statement was requested from him which he gave accordingly.
The witness said he administered cautionary wordings to the accused while the accused wrote his statement in front of an independent witness, adding that out of all the statements recorded, one was without an independent witness.
Asked if those 39 vendors had a direct connection with the accused, the witness responded that, the vendors had a direct connection with the accused, and defence Counsel L.S. Camara stated that there was absolutely no contract on the procurement between the MoA and the accused.
The witness did not agree with what the defence lawyer stated and said the funds that were paid to the 39 vendors were from government coffers.
He said the funds were paid to the vendors because of the effects COVID-19 would have had on small businesses. He said the ministry could directly deal with the supply but did not do that; instead contracted the 39 vendors to support them during the COVID pandemic.
The witness said the accused had the obligation on the basis that per the mode of the procurement contract, government paid to the vendors who subsequently paid to the accused and the accused person was supposed to deliver the bags of rice to the government and World Food Programme (WFP).
Defence counsel L.S. Camara asked why the 39 vendors were not arrested for not complying with the terms of the procurement contract. The witness responded that the vendors had fulfilled their contractual obligations, which were to purchase the rice from the accused person who stored it in his warehouses and was supposed to deliver it whenever the government needed it to be delivered to the needy Gambians.
He said those rice were confirmed to be stocked in the accused person's warehouses and after the rice was tested to confirm it fit for human consumption. By the time the government was ready to distribute the rice, the rice already confirmed to be in the warehouses was nowhere to be seen, which the accused person claimed to have sold due to storage problem.
LS Camara gave the exhibits to the witness to confirm in the statement where he said the accused stated that he had a storage problem. The witness said that was not indicated in the statement, stating that they had documented evidence from the office of the accused confirming the availability of the stocks in his warehouses and that was something he the accused confirmed during the interrogation.
The case was adjourned to 8 July 2024.
