The trial involves former Gam-Petroleum's general manager and former operations manager, Saikou Drammeh (1st accused) and Lamin Gassama (2nd accused) respectively, who are facing 3 charges of economic crimes and 5 other related charges.
Appearing before the court as the 9th Prosecution Witness (PW9) for the state, Mr. Hydara testified that his company imports and distributes petroleum products in the country, adding they source most of their products from various International Traders such as Addax, Trafigura and PSTV.
The witness narrated that when they contact the International Traders for products and agree on the price, it takes a month or less before they receive the products.
He further told the court that the highest amount of products Jah Oil ever ordered was 6, 000 metric tons.
Mr. Hydara adduced that Jah Oil and Gam Petroleum are partners and have been working over a long time.
At the time of the fuel shortage in The Gambia, the witness added, Jah Oil had 1, 800, 000 litres of diesel at the Gam Petroleum depot and 60,000 litres of petrol in the negative balance.
At this particular juncture, the witness made it clearly known that the issue of lifting fuel at Gam-Petroleum on a negative balance was a normal practice and has been the norm since the inception of Gam Petroleum.
Hydara further added that he was as well confused when he first knew about the issue of lifting in negative balance, but said that it was later explained to him that it is because of limited storage at Gam Petroleum.
Gam-Petroleum has limited storage capacity for OMCs, the witness explained, and that is why companies take products and replenish it when their products arrive.
"Gam Petroleum allows companies to uplift products and repay them when their products arrive in the country in order to keep business going," witness explained, adding that there is no OMC that has never been in the negative balance.
The Jah Oil boss told the Court that OMCs have to borrow so that they can keep business running, and then replenish the fuel when their products arrive.
The state witness posited that business would have been untenable if big oil marketing companies like Jah Oil were allowed to fill up the tanks at the Depot and smaller companies won’t have space and would be asked to wait until their products arrive, adding the absence of a negative balance will give advantage to some companies over others.
The witness said the OMCs are now currently borrowing directly from one another, and Jah Oil currently has lent some OMCs over 500, 000 litres.
He further adduced Jah Oil could not access their 1, 800,000 litres diesel at the time of the shortage but were subsequently refunded when the situation became stable at the Depot.
The Jah Oil boss explained that during the crisis, Jah Oil used to source their products from Senegal to salvage the fuel shortage in the country.
Mr. Hydara was asked by State Counsel Abdul A. Saho whether he was aware of the change in fuel prices at a period in the past, which he confirmed being aware of, acknowledging that it affected the OMCs.
State witness told the court that the price was not favourable to the OMCs.
The witness said the OMCs were displeased with the price structure and the new price structure came when the Government decided to tamper with certain parameters in the price structure.
