Amadou Badjie the sixth prosecution witness testified in the case involving Muhammed Lamin Jaiteh, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health, Balla Kandeh, Programme Manager of the Malaria Control Programme, and Omar Malleh Ceesay, Executive Director of the Health Promotion and Development Programme (HePDO).
The witness narrated that the HePDO procurement committee comprised 4 members and decisions were made by all members. He added that decisions were debated and a consensus is reached.
The witness explained that the CVs were brought to the procurement committee by Omar Malleh Ceesay (2nd accused), who informed them that the CVs were from Lamin Jarju (deceased), who was the deputy managing director of the National Malaria Control Programme. He added that Jarju was responsible for coordinating the studies, as he was the subject matter specialist.
He said the CVs were distributed among the procurement committee members and based on the qualifications on the CVs, decisions were made to hire those consultants.
It would be recalled that two of the consultants who appeared in court rejected ownership of the CVs their names were written on. Muhammed Sissoko, one of the consultants, who served as PW4 in the case, told the court that he had never written a CV, adding that he sold motor parts and land.
The other consultant, Basirou Phillot (PW5), confirmed in court that he was a plumber by profession. Phillot did not take ownership of the CV his name was written on, as he said he had never written any document.
After the committee decided on the CVs of the consultants, the witness said contracts were entered into in their names but none of the consultants were invited in person.
It would also be recalled that the witness, Amadou Badjie, told the court that between 2018 and early 2020 he made payments to the consultants by issuing cheques, adding that multiple cheques were made in their names and Lamin Jarju prepared those cheques.
He stated that Lamin Jarju was the subject matter specialist and he collected some of the cheques that were written in the consultants’ names.
During their testimonies, Muhammed Sissoko and Basirou Phillot (consultants) admitted that they were given multiple cheques by Lamin Jarju to withdraw and each cheque they withdrew, Jarju gave them some amounts.
The case was adjourned to 4 June 2024.
