POLICE SAY D155 MILLION CENTRAL BANK CORRUPTION CLAIM IS A SCAM

 FEBRUARY 21, 2022,   standard newspaper

By Lamin Cham

Police have said that investigations have revealed that a claim by a group of people that they have handed over D155 million of mutilated notes to a Central Bank staff for change into new notes is a scam.

Over the weekend, a letter from Lawyer Lamin Ceesay of Solie Chambers written on behalf of his client, Ansumana Bah, was leaked online. The letter addressed to one Abdou Ceesay, an employee of the bank and copied to the governor, urged him to return the D155 million allegedly given to him.

- The lawyer further conveyed his client’s claim that another D11.1 million was paid to Ceesay upon his request to be distributed to named staff of the bank to facilitate the exchange.

The matter was first reported by Sainey Marenah of online The Alkamba Times who headlined it as a bribery scandal at the reserve bank.

In reaction, the Central Bank issued a statement saying Abdou Ceesay had denied receiving the money and that a police investigation has been launched into issue.

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On Saturday, the police issued its preliminary findings as follows:

“In early 2021, Ansumana Bah and others had an encounter with an organised criminal group who encouraged them to form up a charitable organisation in order for them to access funding from certain unnamed philanthropist from outside the country.

To avoid missing the opportunity, they quickly formed “Jamma Charitable Foundation”.

Apparently, they were made to believe by the fraudsters that the charitable organisation had secured funding amounting to £2.5 million from a philanthropist in UK to commence charitable operation in The Gambia.

The fraudsters claimed that the said funds were smuggled into the country and put in boxes and kept safely in one of the houses of the partners turned scammers for a long period.

The foundation members were informed by the fraudsters that the pounds were converted into local currencies equivalent to D155 million partly mutilated which needed to be changed to new notes at the Central Bank.

The fraudsters further made them to believe without seeing that, changing or swapping the funds required payment of a certain amount as bribe to some role players at the bank through one Abdou Ceesay.

Ansumana and co were further lured into paying D11.1 million as bribe to fast track the alleged swapping.

They were promised a return of a good chunk of the money if they succeed with the swap deal at Central Bank.

The scammers provided some names of Central Bank staff including Abdou Ceesay to Ansumana and co as part of the beneficiaries to the claimed bribe.

Preliminary police investigation discovered that all the above revelations were false and deliberately made to lure Ansumana and co to pay monies to the scammers in relations to their ill-intended scam.

It was established that the fraudsters succeeded in convincing Ansumana and co in establishing a foundation called “Jamma Charitable Foundation” purposely to extort money from its members.

Ansumana Bah claimed that during the period, he and his colleagues raised about D4 million as their contribution towards the bribe.

He raised his funds through the sale of his landed property, assets and credit from families and friends to meet cost of the swap as requested by the fraudsters.

Furthermore, they were made to believe that the other party (scammers) were going to contribute towards the payment of the bribe.

Neither Ansumana nor other foundation members did visit the Central Bank during the period of the transaction.

It was also established that Ansumana Bah and the foundation members never interacted with any of the named Central Bank staff.

However, investigation revealed that some of these scammers were the same people posing as bank staff to win the minds of the foundation members.

The police are currently perusing all possible clues to expose the truth and nab those responsible for these dubious activities.

It is clear from facts gathered that neither Ansumana nor any of the foundation members had seen the £2.5 million nor the D155 million during the course of the entire transaction.

Rather, they were only banking on statements made by the scammers.

Peddling unfounded claims as given above are common attributes of fraudsters principally meant to entice their targeted victims.”

The police urged reporters “to always verify matters with the Press and Public Relations Unit for ease of clarity”.

The Standard has reliably learnt that Mr Bah has been in police custody helping them “to get to the bottom of the case”.

However, Mr Marenah of Alkamba Times who is in fact based in the US, has claimed that he is standing by his story and said “the public must not fall for the ‘cover up’ press statement from The Gambia Police Force on their so-called preliminary investigations into Central Bank of The Gambia corruption scandal.

“They’re doing everything possible to bury the case and protect criminals at the top. We are in possession of tangible evidence against those implicated in the scandal,” Marenah alleged.

Lamin Ceesay of Solie Chambers could not be reached for comments

CBG GOVERNOR REFUSES TO SHARE CONTENT OF A FLASH-DRIVE ALLEGEDLY CONTAINING VITAL INFO ON THE D11.1 MILLION BRIBERY SCANDAL

By

 The Alkamba Times

 -

February 24, 2022

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Bauh Saidy, Governor of Central Bank of the Gambia has vehemently declined to share the contents of a flash drive linked to the D11.1 million bribery allegations and the D155million mutilated banknotes supposedly to be changed into new banknotes.

On Wednesday 23rd February 2022, the Central Bank of the Gambia held a press conference to disassociate itself and staff to have any link to the D11.1million bribery scandal that was unraveled by TAT on the 16th of February, 2022.

This medium received credible pieces of information from sources within the Central Bank that the flash-drive contains all the communications and correspondences, that occurred between Ansumana Bah, an alleged owner of the D155million mutilated banknotes, and Abdou Ceesay, the alleged recipient of the D11.1million bribe on behalf of eighteen other Central Bank staff and two IMF officials.

Our investigations disclosed that the flash-drive was handed over to the Deputy Governor of Central Bank, Basaikou Jabbie by Lawyer Lamin Ceesay, of the Solie Law Chambers, representative of Ansumana Bah, and it contained the records of telephone calls and texts, records of WhatsApp calls, texts and audios, records of messenger messages and email correspondences.

“We (Central Bank of the Gambia) cannot give you this flash-drive because the investigations are still on and it is with the Police. We have listened to it here and the Board Committee investigating this also needs to have access to it” CBG Governor  said as he declined the request of Alkamba Times.

He added: “If I give you this (flash-drive) you will now stain the investigations process this is why we cannot give it to you. The investigation is going on in the Central Bank and the Police, it is evidence so we cannot give it to you.”

On Alkamba’s request for the content of the flash drive to be known to the public, Governor Bauh Saidy persisted again that the content of the flash drive cannot be given out to the press.

“If I shared this to the media some of the people involved are still at large and they can use this to defend themselves or used it against the accused. This is why we cannot give it out because it makes sense to give this to the press,” CBG Governor submitted.

However, immediately after the press conference, one of our sources at the reserve Bank told TAT that Governor Saidy’s hands have been tied because of the involvement of some of his closest buddies in the scandal.

According to the source, the alleged recipient of the bribery Abdou Ceesay shares a close relationship with Governor Bauh Saidy who approved his transfer to the currency department, revealing that some of the staff who have served many years at the currency department have been moved to other departments to give ways to Abdou Ceesay and other close buddies of Governor Saidy.

The Alkamba Times will continue to dig deep into this scandal to unravel what happened at the country apex bank as both the Central Bank of the Gambia and the Gambia Police Forces continue with their investigations

CBG BRIBERY SCANDAL: IMF BANJUL OFFICE DENIES INVOLVEMENT OF STAFF

 

By

 The Alkamba Times

 -

February 17, 2022

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Following the publication of our investigations into one of the biggest corruption scandals in the country involving the officials of the Central bank of The Gambia, the country representative of the International Monetary Fund Banjul has categorically denied the involvement of its staff in the scandal.

Momodou Barry told Alkamba Times that none of the names mentioned in the reports are staff of the IMF Banjul office.

Ask further if his staff is involved, Barry said none was involved but our investigation reveals that two IMF staff were involved in the scandal.

According to information gathered by The Alkamba Times, one Ansuman Bah, a Gambian national and resident of Brusubi Phase 1, deposited one hundred and fifty-five million dalasi (D155 million) mutilated banknotes with the Bankers Bank on the 21st March 2021 to be changed into new banknotes.
Reports say during that transaction, one Abdou Ceesay, a staff of the Central Banks currency development department demanded a bribe of D11.1million to facilitate the process that ended up failing.
Our source further revealed that the mutilated banknotes amounting to D155 million were later uncovered to be fake banknotes currently in circulation in the country.

Reports say the mastermind of the scandal, Abdou Ceesay also confessed to giving D2.8 million and  D1million to one Alcel Kataciga and one Mr. Bojang respectively, adding that the duo is all IMF officials who helped in confirming the changing of these alleged banknotes.

But the IMF Boss denied these allegations

CENTRAL BANK DENIES D11 MILLION BRIBERY SCANDAL, VOWS TO LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO THE SAGA

 

By

 The Alkamba Times

 -

February 17, 2022

The Central Bank of the Gambia has reacted to the eleven million and one hundred thousand dalasis (D11.1million) bribery scandal that was published by this medium on 16th February, 2022.

In a hastily written press statement Bankers Bank has defend its embattled staff Abdou Ceesay, for not receiving any bribery from one Ansuman Bah, who alledgedly deposited D155 million mutilated banknotes with the Bank on 21st March, 2021, earmarked to be changed into new banknotes.

However, it has also informed both the government and the general public that it will launch an investigations into the matter and anyone found wanting will be prosecuted duly.

“The Central Bank of The Gambia acknowledges receipt of a copy of a letter containing corruption allegations against one of its staff. In the said letter, it is alleged that badly damaged bank notes amounting to D155 million were handed over to the concerned staff to change into new notes,” Bankers Bank disclosed in its 17th February, 2022, press release.

It added: “It is also alleged that the concerned staff requested for the money to be brought to the Central Bank and he asked for the payment of demurrage of D310,000.00. It was further alleged that the concerned staff subsequently requested for various sums of money amounting to a total of D11,100,000.00 on behalf of certain individuals who would facilitate the arrangement to change the money into new notes.”

The release continued to state that: “It is finally alleged in the said letter that after all these sums of money were paid to the concerned staff, but he failed to issue the new notes as he promised and as such, a demand for the return of the said amount of D155,000,000.00 and D11,100,000.00 was made.”

The release disclosed that Central Bank has lunched an investigation on the matter and preliminary findings have revealed that:

1. The Concerned staff has categorically refuted the allegations contained in the letter and has indicated that he is not involved and has no knowledge of the matter;

2. We can confirm that March 21, 2021, the indicated date on or around which the transaction is to have taken place fell on a Sunday when the entire Central Bank premises was closed and not accessible to the public.

3. Some of the individuals named in the said letter are not known to the Bank, nor does the Central Bank have 9 dedicated night security guards as indicated therein.

It should be noted that an amount of D155 million could not have been brought to the Central Bank without the knowledge of any other individual apart form the staff concerned. Besides, the said staff was not posted at the Currency Department during the period of March 2021.

“The above notwithstanding, the Government and the general public is hereby assured that the Central Bank of The Gambia is taking these allegations very seriously and that it will take all available means to deploy a full investigation into the matter and anyone found culpable will face the full force of the law. The Central Bank of The Gambia remains committed to transparency and accountability in its actions,” the release ends.

In another development, Momodou Barry, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Country Representative, denies any involvement of its staff in the bribery scandal that rocks the Central Bank of the Gambia. arguing that the two personnels mentioned in the scandal are not IMF staff.

Meanwhile, Alkamba Times can authoritatively disclosed that Lawyers of Ansuman Bah, have threatened to prosecute the aforementioned Central Bank staff, Abdou Ceesay, if he fails to refund the D11.1million bribe and the D155million, alledgedly said to be false banknotes

Gambians Held in Senegal Released

 FEBRUARY 3, 2022,  Standard newspaper

By Lamin Cham

The Minister for the Interior, Yankuba Sonko, has confirmed that the three Gambians arrested by Senegalese Ecomig forces in Foni in the wake of the January 24 fighting with separatist MFDC rebels are alive and have been released.

The trio was reported to have been taken away to Dakar by the soldiers since their arrest on Monday.According to Minister Sonko, the trio, Alkalo Modou Mbye Bojang of Karorr village, Fabakary Bojang also from Karorr and police CID officer Abdou Jammeh have all been returned to The Gambia and are being kept at a safe place undergoing medical check-ups before being reunited with their families.

“They all look sound and healthy from outside but I gave instructions for them to be medically checked too,” Sonko said.

He disclosed that the case of the third man Fabakary Bojang was not very well known but he too was arrested in the wake of the same incident.

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The fate of the arrested alkalo and the CID officer was the subject of concern among Gambians who expressed outrage about their arrests.

The local National Assembly Member, Musa Amul Nyassi, also confirmed the return of the three men. 

“They are all back. In fact, we are delighted that a third one whose case was not very well known was released too,” Nyassi told The Standard last night.

On Wednesday, The Standard broke the news about the detention of the men in Dakar, Senegal.

MFDC parades 2 captured ECOMIG soldiers, denies torture

 Feb 7, 2022, 12:16 PM | Article By: Momodou Jawo & Pa Modou Cham,  The Point Newspaper.

Two out of the seven ECOMIG soldiers that were recently captured by separatist rebels - the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), were over the weekend paraded before journalists during a press conference held in Cassamace, the southern part of Senegal.

The two soldiers who were paraded in front of journalists from The Gambia and Senegal claimed that they were not been subjected to any form of torture and that they were receiving food and water from the rebels. However, the duo though seated had their hands tied behind them with ropes.

The seven captured soldiers who were stationed at Bwiam in the Foni District of the West Coast Region (WCR) are believed to be part of ECOMIG, the peacekeeping mission from the West African bloc ECOWAS in The Gambia The ECOMIG Forces and the MFDC rebels recently exchanged gunfire in the border line of Gambia and Senegal resulting in the death of two ECOMIG Forces and seven of the ECOMIG soldiers being captured.

The clash between the MFDC rebels and the ECOMIG Forces resulted in the evacuation of so many Gambians, especially those living around the border in the Foni Kansala District of WCR. Three Gambians who were also arrested by the ECOMIG Forces and detained in the Senegalese capital, Dakar have also been released by the Senegalese authority.  

Salifu Sarjo, the leader of MFDC movement who was speaking during the presser claimed that they are not rebels, saying: “We are freedom fighters. However, recently we were surprised due to the fact that we were attacked by the ECOMIG Forces through our relatives, The Gambia. Again, sometime back there were reports that one of my sons was enlisted into The Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) which is totally false. In fact, I am not yet married and I don’t have any child,” he posited.

“I don’t like fighting, but whoever wants us to fight we will fight. In fact, it’s even better than even calling me to eat. If you people don’t want us to maintain our relationship, then that’s fine, but don’t get up and come and fight me. I will not accept it. I am even ashamed to take a gun and go and fight in The Gambia.”

“It’s a big shame to me due to the fact that when we were fighting recently many communities around the area fled and left many of their items behind. If you people want to force me to a fight, then we will fight.”

“I am urging The Gambia government to not allow it to be used by the Senegalese government to enter into this fight that they don’t know anything about. If Gambia doesn't want to strengthen the relationship with Cassamace, then it’s going to be difficult tomorrow because Gambia is in the middle of Cassamance.”