Police in Banjul have granted bail to detained senior officials of the Gampetroleum company last week pending further investigations into the case.
Top Gampetroleum officials were arrested early November in connection with transactions related to the trading of petroleum products. The Managing director of Gampetrolum, Saihou Drammeh, his director of operations, Lamin Gassama and one Khaddija Kebbeh, an official from GACH holdings, a local based company.
Police spokesperson ASP Lamin Njie confirmed the release of Gampetrolum officials in a brief chat with Alkamba Times.
The Gambia’s minister of Trade briefed the press earlier on the saga in early November saying the focus of ongoing investigations by the Gambia Police Force will effectively determine who and under what conditions the missing stocks were allocated.
“Since this whole saga began, the taskforce has discovered some questionable management practices which have given rise to the need for further review of the standard operating procedures of the depot, according to the Trade Minister who added: “During the week ending 31st of October 2021, the country witnessed shortage of gasoil at majority of the gas stations across the country. That’s in contrast to reports received from Gampetroleum for that week, dated 25th of October 2021 that indicated the stock balance of 6,711,514 metric tons which would have lasted eight days for the national demand. This prompted a stock verification visit on the 31st of October to the depot comprising the state security, PURA, ministry of trade, Major Oil Marketing Companies and the management of the depot mainly the general manager and the operations manager. It was found that tanks D1 to D4 were all empty while tank D5 contained 50,000 litres of mixed diesel and water. The total capacity for the five tanks is 20,000 metric tons.” Minister Keita explained to the Press.
