The Gambia Ports Authority Managing Director, Ousman Jobarteh, will face a High Court arraignment on economic crime charges involving over D20 million in alleged public fund misuse, Sources at the Attorney General’s Chambers confirmed Thursday. Several senior staff members are co-accused in the case, which centers on procurement fraud and abuse of office at the nation’s leading trade gateway.
The charges cap a three-year probe that began with internal audits flagging irregular payments, ghost contracts, and inflated invoices during Jobarteh’s tenure. A 2022 GPA internal review—leaked last year—detailed D20 million diverted through fake consultancy fees and rigged tenders, mostly linked to port modernization projects under the controversial Albayrak concession.
Jobarteh, appointed in 2018, initially won praise for resisting Turkish firm Albayrak’s push to secure loans against port assets without equity. However, whistleblowers claim that the same management team later approved suspicious deals that enriched insiders. “The MD knew everything,” one former finance officer told investigators anonymously. “Approvals needed his signature.”
Hours after prosecutors notified him Thursday, Jobarteh requested casual leave and crossed into Dakar, Senegal, claiming urgent medical treatment. Sources at the GPA confirm he traveled by road in a private vehicle.
The case revives memories of the broader D300 million port scandal, where junior staff were scapegoated while senior names vanished from police files. Anti-corruption group GALA, which petitioned the National Assembly last week, called the D20 million charge “a drop in the ocean.” Executive member Fallou Gallas Ceesay demanded full disclosure: “If D20 million is proven, where is the rest? Gambians deserve every but but accounted for.”
Jobarteh’s defenders insist he is being targeted for challenging powerful interests tied to the Albayrak deal. His recent memo exposing the firm’s loan scheme earned him enemies in high places, they argue. Yet critics point to his alleged lavish lifestyle—multiple properties in Bijilo and Senegambia, luxury vehicles, and overseas investments—as evidence of illicit wealth.
The High Court date is set for next week, according to sources within the Justice Ministry familiar with the case. President Barrow’s administration is under intense pressure to demonstrate anti-graft resolve ahead of the 2026 elections and has vowed to show no interference.
For dockworkers earning D8,000 a month and youth facing a 40% unemployment rate, the scandal hits hard. “That D20 million could build clinics, schools, roads,” said Serekunda resident Fatou Jallow.
