Her testimony revealed inconsistencies, failure to follow proper procedures, and questionable dealings surrounding the allocation of public land to a private business, MK Stores.
The scrutiny centers around two plots of land: one originally behind the National Assembly and the other at Bond Road initially discussed for allocation to a businessman Charbel Elhajj, who later instructed the council to transfer the land to MK Stores, a business entity owned by Nandu. The process, however, has raised legal and ethical questions about how public resources were handled.
Mayor Lowe admitted that the decision to support Charbel’s request for land was based purely on a verbal conversation.
She said Charbel told her he had a partnership with Hisense and planned to create jobs for Gambian youth.
No documentation was provided to support the claims, and no verification was done.
“I believed in what Charbel told me,” Lowe said.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez strongly objected to this, stating: “You should not have done that because you do not own the land.”
No one allocates land based on verbal claims.”
Lowe claimed she had asked the former CEO Mustapha Batchilly to verify Charbel’s information, but Batchilly refuted this, saying: ‘We have never talked about the authenticity of the interested party.’
When documents relating to the land were presented, Batchilly said he recognised them. Lowe, however, only recognised the first and denied knowing about the rest. She was also shown a letter of application from Charbel, which she said she could not recall.
Batchilly claimed to have the original application and requested time to produce it. He clarified that the application he had pertained to the Bond Road plot, not the initial land behind the National Assembly.
On the issue of pricing, Batchilly testified that the Mayor and Charbel agreed on a D2 million price. Lowe initially denied negotiating any price but later changed her position.
“If Charbel said that it happened in my office, then he is right,” she said, after being reminded of Charbel’s earlier testimony.
She later clarified that the council determined the final price, not her individually / as an individual.
Charbel reportedly told Mayor Lowe that his deal with Hisense had collapsed. Despite this, the land intended for his project was transferred to MK Stores, owned by Nandu. The reason for the allocation, economic benefit and job creation was no longer valid, yet the land transaction proceeded.
“The reason you wanted to give land to Charbel was no more there,” Gomez said.
“Yes,” Lowe admitted.
“Why did you proceed?” Gomez asked.
“I believed in the verbal conversation I had with Charbel,” Lowe replied.
Mayor Lowe claimed she saw the letter for the first time during the hearing, but Batchilly said she had seen it at the council.
When asked if Charbel had the legal authority to transfer public land, Lowe said she didn’t know the legal implications.
Later, Gomez confronted her with testimony from Nandu, who said he visited her office three to four times. Lowe initially denied discussing the land with him and said their talks were about reallocating him to Bond Road due to complications with his original plot.
When reminded of her earlier denial of knowing anything about the land, she changed her position again:
“I was referring to the lease,” she said.
“The transaction started and ended with you”
Gomez directly confronted Lowe about her central role in the entire process.
“Nandu will not come to your office three to four times without a reason,” he said.
“The transaction started with you and ended with you.”
“I will not disagree with you,” Lowe responded.
Despite initially claiming to know nothing about MK Stores’ acquisition of the land, Lowe later acknowledged that she was aware of Nandu’s visits and that she had to sign the lease documents herself.
