The accused were Muhammadou 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 Organisation (HePDO).
The witness Amadou Badjie, an administrator and finance manager at HePDO for over 15 years, revealed in court that around late 2018 there was a Memorandum of Understanding signed between HePDO and National Malaria Control Programme.
He said the MoU was for HePDO to facilitate the payment of consultants for the study related to malaria, adding that the CVs of the consultants were brought before Omar Malleh Ceesay, the 2nd accused to the procurement committee at HePDO for a review.
The witness stated that Omar Malleh Ceesay informed them that he got the CVs from Lamin Jarjue, who was the deputy programmes manager at the National Malaria Control Programme.
He confirmed to the court that he had seen the contracts of all the four consultants, and the contract was signed by Omar Malleh Ceesay, who was the executive director of HePDO, and the consultants - Abdou Sallah, Mamud Ceesay, Basirou Phillot (PW5) and Muhammed Sissoko (PW4).
Asked if he recognised the first accused person, Balla Kandeh, the witness told the court that the first accused was one time a member of HePDO board of directors and a signatory to their account.
It would be recalled that the fourth prosecution witness, Muhammed Sissoko, whose name was listed among the names of contractors in the case, told the court that he was engaged in selling motor parts and land and he had never written nor signed any contract documents.
The fifth prosecution witness, Basirou Phillot, a plumber by profession whose name was also listed among the names of contractors in the case, said he did not write, sign or submit any documents to HePDO or the National Malaria Control Programme.
However, the sixth prosecution witness, Amadou Badjie, mentioned the names of the previous witnesses that they did sign contract documents.
The case was adjourned until 13 May 2024.
