Commission proceeds with BAC finance supremo's testimony

Upon reappearance, he was initially questioned regarding findings in the 2020 & 2021 audit report by the National Audit Office (NAO).

The auditors indicated in the report that the GTR books of some of the revenue collectors were not presented for auditing. The collectors involved were Pa Sanjally Bojang, Sanna Jarju, Kebba Jammeh, Famara Sanyang, Momodou B. Jallow, and Karamo Sarjo.

Witness Jeng posited that those GTRs were eventually founded as contained in the management response to the audit finding. 

The auditors indicated in the report that the GTR books were not presented despite the management’s claim.

In 2021, the auditors said the bank reconciliation statement, financial statement and other financial records were not presented for auditing. Jeng again claimed that he presented them for auditing. This compelled the commissioners to ask him to provide evidence of details next week.

The BAC finance boss was asked about the D3.7 million unauthorised payments made, but he said he was not aware of the audit report. Nonetheless, he asserted that the payments were authorised, which also prompted the Commission to ask for evidence.

The Commission noted that BAC made payments - amounting to a whopping D1.3 million - to people without following due process. It highlighted that One Omar Sidibeh was paid 3 times for clearing, while other expenses including purchase of rice, transportation of rice, purchase of  spare parts, payment for fuel and purchase of motor tires and others.

Strangely enough, the payments were made without supporting documents. One Mustapha Manneh was paid D99,000 for clearing the dumpsite without any supporting documents.

The witness testified that BAC always hired Mustapha Manneh for clearing purposes. He noted that they had no contract with him. As per evidence before the Commission, Mustapha Manneh was paid D76,000, D40,000 and D94,000. One Omar Sidibeh was also paid D86,000, D72,000 and D36,000 for clearing. Mustapha Sanneh was paid D146,000. Other payments were raised by the Commission in addition to these.

The BAC finance boss could not account for those payments but only claimed that they provided services for which they were paid. Notwithstanding, he accepted that the payments were unlawful.

“I take full responsibility of the payments together with the CEO,” he told the inquirers.

Jeng was also quizzed over payments - amounting to D442,431 - to people who were not registered in the official council payroll.

“We were not notified by the Admin Department. We could not have stopped their salaries," he responded.