Ceesay acknowledged that it was his personal decision to print these books, marking a departure from the council's usual practices.
“It was my decision. Private GTR receipt books were prepared. We wanted to operate the conference centre privately and differently from the council. Ten GTR books were printed. It did not get to the council for approval,” Pa Sait said.
Ceesay attributed their actions to financial pressure, stating that they wanted to generate more revenue for the council.
However, under intense cross-examination, Ceesay's claim of financial pressure was called into question.
It was revealed that the Supersonicz account, linked to the conference centre, was opened in January 2019, while the center itself only began operating in December 2019. This timeline contradicted Ceesay's claim of working under pressure and cast doubt on the true motive behind printing privately sourced receipt books.
He confirmed the dates but he said that these were measures put in place at the time.
Chairperson Jainaba Bah sought clarification on why taxpayers' money was used to build the conference centre while privately sourced receipt books were employed.
“It was an error on our side,” Ceesay responded.
Probed on his knowledge of the Financial Manual for councils, which expressly forbids such practices, Ceesay admitted he was aware of these regulations at the time.
Regarding the source of the privately printed receipt books, Ceesay claimed ignorance, stating that Bai Gibbi Sallah, the finance director at the time, handled the transaction.
He admitted that he knew their actions were not right, as the official receipt books should have been obtained from GPPC with approval from the ministry responsible for local government.
Explaining the rationale behind obtaining privately sourced receipt books, Ceesay mentioned that it was their first time managing such a facility.
The idea was to maintain a fixed deposit account at Supersonicz Micro-Finance for a year, then engage the financial institutions for the extension of the project since the largest portion of the land area was not developed.
However, he admitted that the developed area was smaller compared to the area left undeveloped.
Further testifying on the tariffs for the conference centre, Ceesay disclosed that VIP rooms were priced at D1000 per night, while other rooms were D750.
He revealed that Momodou Saidybah was appointed as the manager of the facility housing the conference center and the rooms. He admitted that the manager accepted payments without keeping a cash book to record moneys received.
He attempted to shift the blame onto the finance director, saying a competent finance director should have provided the centre manager a cash book. But he was informed that he, as the CEO of the council, was on top of everything happening at the centre, to which he agreed. He claimed that he used to visit the centre almost every day to see what they were doing.
Commissioner Oreme E. Joiner raised concerns about the manager receiving double salary - one from the council as a staff member and another from the centre for voluntary services.
Ceesay confirmed this practice and added that all workers at the centre were also providing voluntary services and were not permanent employees.
The ex-CEO also disclosed that there is a quarter for the finance director, but the finance director rented while the council paid for it.
