Privately sourced receipt refers to unofficial receipts procured by council staff without legal authority and using it in council transactions. Official receipts are printed by the Gambia Printing and Publishing Company (GPPC).
Lamin K. Kanteh, the principal cashier, made this admission, which only came as a substantiation and corroboration of evidence previously received regarding private receipts, despite the fact that they were in his name.
On page 51 of the 2019 audit report, the auditors found out that the witness was issuing receipts to revenue collectors without evidence of deposit. The money could not be traced in the bank accounts.
The witness, after going through the first page of the audit report, said the numbers in the audit report were too long.
“I don't think these are our GTRs. I think these are not in our BCR Book [record of the receipts],” the witness said, adding: “Definitely, these were privately sourced GTRs. We do not have receipt numbers like this. These numbers are longer than the ones we used in the council.”
“But these findings were found in your cash book. You were audited,” Counsel Gomez put to him, to which Kanteh affirmed.
“Are you saying these were privately sourced GTRs?” Counsel Gomez asked.
“Yes,” the witness replied.
He testified that he was present at the time of audit and he did not raise the issue with the auditors. Asked why he did not, he said he was not informed about the audit findings.
The witness said he only did reconciliation, and the people responsible for deposit included the finance manager and the financial assistants.
“They are the very people who gave me the receipts. Since 2018 to date, I have never appeared in the bank to do deposit or withdrawal,” he testified.
He disclosed to the commissioners that he only issued receipts after obtaining them from the finance manager and his support staff.
