By: Foday Manneh
The Alkamba Times can authoritatively confirm that the Finance Director of the Basse Area Council, Lamin Suso, and two other council officials, in Malafi Badjie, the former Finance Manager, and Ndaba Krubally, the Council’s cashier, have been taken into Police custody over six million dalasis of the Council’s funds.
This comes barely less than a week following Alkamba Times’ publication of an audit report of the Council, which reported that the Finance Director had unlawfully deposited the Council’s funds amounting to over D6 million into his account.
“They were taken to Basse Police Station before being referred to the Police headquarters in Banjul for questioning. They are the three suspects of that D6 million, and right now they are in Banjul,” the Council’s spokesperson, Omar Drammeh, confirm to TAT.
In addition, it has also been reported that the Finance Director has withdrawn over D4 million from various council accounts, which he said was used for the Council’s operations.
However, the audit report highlighted the implications of a high risk of fraud and mismanagement of taxpayers’ money as revenue collectors deposit money directly into the Finance Director’s business account.
The Basse Area Council described TAT’s report as “truth and accurate,” adding that the audit was carried out due to financial suppression and other related matters that may tamper the Council’s credibility and integrity in promoting transparency and accountability.
We contacted the Police for more details, but our efforts proved fruitless.
