His comments came in the wake of Republic’s investigative report linking him to the sales of assets of former president Yahya Jammeh.
He argued that the Republic could have made a more informed story if his side of the story was captured in the investigative report, adding the investigative report was unfair to him.
The investigative story alleged that the former Minister of Justice has manipulated a court decision in order to unfreeze the Tourism Development Area (TDA) Lands to benefit someone close to him.
However, Tambadou categorically denied that allegation, saying: "I did not seek the unfreeze of the TDA Lands based on my personal decision and neither was it for the purpose of benefiting someone close to me."
"Back in 2017 following the change of government, we all remember the euphoria in the country, the feeling of freedom and openness. And of course the interest was shown by outsiders in our country."
"One of the entities that showed great interest in the country at that time was FTI (Future Twistic Investment). When FTI was coming at the time, we had already Frozen the assets in May. And we did not freeze the assets under the company act. We froze the assets under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the act allows the state to temporarily freeze the assets of a suspect, while investigations are ongoing so that the suspect would not display their assets before the conclusion of the investigation."
He noted that at that time, FTI and other investors were all coming into the country but the government was interested in attracting FTI, adding the government was interested in TDA because the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was approaching and the government needed an idle location to build the intended infrastructure for the summit.
"So, by the time of FTI coming, the government had frozen the TDA Lands. By the time FTI came the government had assured FTI and I had attended a few of those meetings with a number of ministers at the Office of the President," he said.
He continued: "FTI clearly expressed its willingness to build a five star hotel in the country and the government was interested in the potential job creation opportunities that would come in the building of such a hotel. There were other investors such as Spanish but we were occupied with two objectives- to invite FTI back to the country and also identify a proper location for the OIC."
He further explained that the government told FTI to wait on the conclusion of the Janneh Commission which should take only three months but it later increased to one year and two months. In the course of the Janneh Commission's investigation the investors visited the TDA and identified a place to build a five star hotel but unfortunately, the place they identified was the Jammeh Frozen Lands.
"The prolong of the Janneh Commission began to frustrate FTI and the cabinet made a decision and instructed me to seek the unfreeze of the TDA Lands for a potential investor to be given."
"Now, we went to court and made an application. The application was denied by the judge, which we respected. After that decision it became a very frustrating period for the government."
"However, when that decision came, FTI was discouraged. It killed FTI interest in the country," he explained.
Moving forward, he said appealing the case was a considered option by the Ministry of Justice to ensure the lands are unfreeze, adding this act was a team work as he took legal advice from his team of legal experts.
"We have presented the facts before the High Court. It is the Chief Justice who assigns cases and not the Attorney General. So, the Chief Justice in his wisdom assigned this case to Justice Jaiteh but the time fell during the vacation because Justice Saho's decision was received by the ministry on the last day of court term, 31th of July."
"So, the idea that we waited until the vacation and filed a case was totally misleading and totally wrong," he argued, referring to the investigative report.
He further denied ever acting alone on this matter.
On Alpha Capital
Tambadou further denied appointing an agent of Alpha Capital, a company claimed to own by his friend, saying "the process of the sale of the assets by Alpha Capital was done through a closed bidding process."
Appointment of Alpha Capital
Delving into the appointment of Alpha Capital to sell the assets, Tambadou noted that the appointment of Alpha Capital was approved by a ministerial committee that includes the Minister of Justice, Minister of Land, Minister of Tourism and that of Agriculture.
Concerning Tambadou's relationship with Alpha Barry, founder of Alpha Capital, he said at the time of appointment, the man in question was not his friend. "I first met Mr. Alpha Barry in 2018. He had come to my office with Mr. Mustapha Njie of Taf Global."
