Inquiry probes 3 BAC staff over unaccounted for funds

The trio included Principal Auditor Sulayman Barry, Finance Director Alagie Jeng and Revenue Collector Mama Kinteh. The said revenues were collected by Mama Kinteh.

Quizzed about the collections, Mama Kinteh testified that she was new in the council and her instruction was to collect and bring the monies to the council.

She said Alagie Jeng, Director of Finance was the person who instructed her to bring the collections to the council. She was referred to the Financial Manual for local government authorities, which requires revenue collectors to deposit all their collections daily at the bank.

“I was new there and I felt that I have the duty to follow instructions of my bosses,” Mama said.

“You knew what you were doing was wrong and you knew exactly what you were doing,” Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez addressed.

“Yes, I knew that I had to deposit the monies in the bank. I cannot go against my boss's instruction. I have all the receipts with me,” she testified.

“Sometimes," she added, "when they want to make payments, they will call me to bring cash to the council and Lamin Kantong Kanteh would give me a receipt. All the monies were given to Alagie Jeng and I have receipts for them.”

Sulayman Barry, the principal cashier, testified that he did not take the cash books of the revenue collectors. There was one revenue collector who claimed that her cash book was with the audit unit. 

Barry said he only kept the cash book of Mama Kinteh based on tangible reason. He denied having the cash book of Madeline.

Asked why he took the cash book of Mama Kinteh, Barry explained that he took her book because she was collecting revenue while her transactions were not appearing in the lodgement log. He said the book was kept to investigate her.

He disclosed that the investigation was conducted by Mafuji Kanteh, and in the end, the report was sent to the CEO, adding that the recommendations were not implemented and he got to know that Mama was transferred from her unit to another unit.

He stated that he returned the cash book to her last week Monday based on the request of the Commission and attached the audit report. Barry said Mama Kinteh only tendered her cash book and detached the audit report. Barry said the audit report was also signed by Mama Kinteh.

Lead Counsel Gomez raised that Mama Kinteh’s written statement indicates she  used to collect and bring the cash to the council without banking her collections, and she would then obtain a receipt from Lamin Kantong Kanteh and hand over the cash to director of finance, Alagie Jeng.

The audit report was titled Fraud Collusion Report, prepared by Mafuji Kanteh, an internal audit clerk. It was admitted to the Commission's records.

It implicates Yankuba Kujabi, the market master; Alagie Jeng, the director of finance; Mama Kinteh, revenue collector.

Auditor Barry said there was a memo that was widely circulated in the council instructing all revenue collectors to deposit funds in the council’s bank account, going further to dismiss the claims by some of the collectors that they were not aware of it. 

“All of them were aware. It was widely circulated. They were all told to deposit the monies in the bank,” he averred.

Mr Barry was questioned about his office's conduct in relation to clearing revenue collectors without properly perusing the documents.

The lead counsel underscored that some of those transactions were still not traced in the account. In one of such transactions, the audit cleared a D75,000 transaction when there were no supporting documents. Sulayman Barry admitted that there were no bank deposit slips and other supporting documents. 

“It is concerning. You cannot ascertain whether the money was deposited in the account,” Barry noted.

Thus, he accepted responsibility as the head of the audit unit, adding that he should have performed oversight role over his subordinates at the unit.

Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez told the witness that the figure was taken from Mama Kinteh’s book. The witness could not say anything and was seen flipping the pages of the cash book.

“Does your report capture this?” Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez asked. The answer received was in the negative.

The lead counsel highlighted that Mama Kinteh was cleared by the auditors regarding that transaction.

However, Barry, at this juncture, raised that in most cases, some of the collectors passed through the principal cashier instead of coming to his office first for reconciliation: "In most cases, these people pass through the director of finance first and he will clear. Lamin Kantong Kanteh used to issue them receipts without providing bank slips."

Barry, in conformity with the audit report, said these three people colluded together in this.

For the period under review, Barry informed the commissioners that Mama Kinteh made a total collection of D470,000, and from that amount, only D145,000 was traceable.

He continues that when Mama was confronted by the audit unit to account for the monies, she said she gave them to Finance Director Alagie Jeng.

Barry further testified that the CEO, despite receiving the audit report, did not respond or implement the recommendations.

He was asked why he did not provide the report to the council since he was answerable to the council, but Mr Barry said he had no confidence in the Brikama Area Council headed by former Chairman Sheriffo Sonko. Barry added ex-Chairman Sonko was behind some of the staff of the council challenging the audit unit.

Barry testified that the council is weak and not functioning as required. He alleged that the council goes for about 5 months without holding any monthly meetings as required by law, further alleging that the committees of the council, including the finance sub-committee, were weak and not functioning, . 

“We have a chairman who neglected his duty to the council, and joined the CEO and the finance director in doing things. If you want to break that cabal, if you are not careful, you will be neutralised,” Barry testified.

Director of Finance Alagie Jeng was questioned about the monies, and he admitted receiving monies from Mama Kinteh.

He admitted "that was wrong" but argued they had to make payments.

Jeng claimed that the CEO was aware of it and sometimes the principal auditor was involved.

Jeng was shown the audit report against him, Mama Kinteh and Yankuba Kujabi, the market master. He testified he had not seen the audit report in the past and was not aware of its existence.

The lead counsel told him that the idea he put up was untimely: "The idea of knowing or not knowing the audit report is not something that can help in this situation. You are here to account for the money you collected from Mama Kinteh,”

“I cannot recall," Alagie said, "taking all these monies from Mama. I cannot remember receiving all these monies from her. I can remember calling her when we want to make payments."

After saying this, Alagie Jeng further claimed that he had payment vouchers to account for the amounts received from Mama Kinteh. The Commission requested for the vouchers and Jeng promised to bring them. The amount in question is D262,000.

Jeng claimed that Mama Kinteh was refunded an amount of D75,000 and the amount was deposited in the BAC’s AGIB Bank accounts.

He also claimed that the audit did not capture the transaction. He was asked the account details and the period of the deposit. Jeng informed the Commission that he forgot the period. He was handed the AGIB Bank document of the BAC to show the Commission, but there was no indication of such. 

Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez told Alagie Jeng that Mama Kinteh deposited D75,000 on the 28th October 2022, and it was captured in the audit report.

Counsel Gomez added that Mama Kinteh made another deposit of D75,000 in 2023, which was outside the period under review by the audit report. Alagie Jeng claimed that it was the money he gave her to deposit in the account as a refund to the D75,000 he took from her.

Mama was asked about Jeng’s claim. She testified that she went to Jeng to request for the receipt of the money (D75,000). Instead of giving her a receipt, Jeng gave her D75,000 and asked her to deposit in the account. This was in 2023. 

“Where did you get the money to refund her?” the lead counsel asked.

“It was from the cash withdrawals,” Alagie Jeng said.

“The money taken from her was used unlawfully,” Lead Counsel Gomez said.

“Yes, I have committed an unlawful act, but I did not use the money unlawfully. The act was wrong but the spending was correct,” Alagie Jeng reacted.

“Do you agree that taking from the revenue collectors and spending it on council activities was wrong?” Gomez asked, which Jeng affirmed.

Lead Counsel Gomez referred him to section 406 of the Financial Manual regarding the control of revenue, which makes it mandatory that all council revenues be immediately banked.

The same law prohibits the usage of funds on private matters and mandates the director of finance to ensure that all funds collected are banked.

Jeng admitted that he did not do as such.

“Where did you get money to repay her?” Gomez asked.

“It was from the withdrawals from the council’s accounts,” Jeng said.

When asked when the withdrawal was made, Jeng informed the Commission he could not remember the day or month but claimed that he had documents to provide. He was asked to provide it on or before his appearance on Thursday.

Jeng disputed the audit report on accusation of collusion with Mama and Yankuba Kujabi.