Mr Yaya Sanneh, a top official of Darusalam Construction and a resident of Soma, has admitted before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday, 28 November that he was overpaid for the Mina Village borehole project.
The Local Government Commission of Inquiry was established to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the local government councils. The inquiry body was tasked to do a holistic and fair review of the financial and administrative operations of the councils to enhance transparency and accountability.
The commission is now focused on the Mansakonko Area Council after concluding with Basse Area Council. So far, some revenue collectors and contractors have already testified. Yaya Sanneh appeared before the Commission to testify on the contract he had with the Mansakonko Area Council.
The witness said he obtained a certificate in construction from the Gambia Technical Training Institute in 2018.
He added that he applied for the contract for the drilling of boreholes after seeing the advertisement for the contract, noting that he only sent an invoice to the Mansakonko Area Council and he was later informed that he was awarded the contract.
He told the Commission that he personally handed his application to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mansakonko Area Council. The witness revealed that after giving the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) the invoices he received a call from the CEO that he was awarded the contract.
The witness provided copies of his invoices with the invoice numbers 0024 and 0025, both dated 25th September, 2020. The carbon copy of the invoices was tendered and admitted into the records of the Commission. It was marked as an exhibit.
The witness explained that the two invoices are the same. Invoice Number 0025 is a continuation of Invoice Number 0024. He said the total value for the project was Four Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousand Dalasi (D475,000). The originals of the two invoices were tendered in evidence and admitted in the records of the Commission.
Chairperson Jainaba Bah said the two invoices are not the same because “it did not add up”. Chairperson Bah stated that the total value in Invoice 0024 was D424,471 and that of Invoice 0025 was D475,000. The witness argued that the two invoices were one and the same, whereby the second one was a continuation of the first invoice. The Commission asked the witness to do the calculations on each of the Invoices to test the veracity of his statement. After doing the calculation, the witness admitted that the values on the two invoices were not the same.
“Explain the differences between Invoice 0024 and Invoice 0025?” Chairperson Bah asked.
The witness insisted that the invoices were the same.
The witness’ statement dated 18 October, 2023, the business registration for Darusalam Construction owned by the witness, the GPPA registration certificate dated 1 October, 2020 and the company’s annual return certificate dated February 2022 were all tendered and were all admitted into the records of the Commission. They were marked as an exhibit in a bundle.
He said the payment for the contract was made in three (3) installments. The first payment was D285,000, the second installment was D125,000 and D65,000. This adds up to D475,000.
Counsel Patrick Gomez showed the witness a cheque withdrawal of Ten Thousand Dalasi (D10,000) dated 29 September, 2020.
“This Cheque might not be related to the contract. It could be the regional youth committee work. I work for the Regional Youth Committee. We requested funding for our cleansing exercise and the Council gave us the cheque,” the witness said.
The witness said the youth group is called Eco Friends Gambia with a membership of 60 members. He added that he is the Chairperson of the group.
On 30 December 2020, the witness made withdrawal of Twenty-Five Thousand Dalasi. He was shown the account and he confirmed it. He said he cannot remember what it was for.
Counsel Patrick Gomez informed the witness that the total payments made to him was D510,000 instead of the agreed D475,000.
“Your invoice was D475,000 but the amount paid to you was D510,000,” Counsel Patrick Gomez observed.
The witness said the extra amount paid on top of the agreed contractual sum did not have anything to do with the contract. He testified that the D10,000 was for the cleansing exercise. Counsel Gomez said the overpayment was D35,000 and not D10,000. The Lawyer asked the witness to account for it by telling the Commission the details of those transactions. The witness said he cannot remember.
Counsel Gomez pointed out that on 28 December, 2020 the Council paid the witness D71,250 and on the same day the witness paid D10,000 into the Council’s Trust Bank account.
“What was that for?” Counsel Gomez asked.
The witness was silent for a while.
“MrSanneh, we are waiting for you. Why did you pay D10,000 in the Councils’ Trust Bank account on the same day you were paid D71,250,” Counsel Gomez told the witness.
The witness was still silent and could not respond to the question. Counsel Gomez told the witness that the overpayment was D35,000. He asked the witness to explain why he was overpaid.
“Definitely, the deposit is in my name but I cannot remember the purpose of the deposit,” the witness replied.
The witness said he does not know about the withholding tax in 2020 and he did not pay that.
Chairperson Jainaba Bah also told the witness that the records showed that he received cash payments from the council amounting to over D175,000.
“I cannot remember that,” the witness replied.
Counsel Gomez asked the witness to provide evidence to show that the payment was for the cleansing exercise. The witness said he will look out for the request from the Regional Youth Committee and then provide the Commission with it. Counsel Gomez asked for the D25,000 overpayment.
“I cannot remember where it was spent,” the witness answered.
“You cannot sit here and say you cannot recall,” Counsel Gomez said.
Counsel Gomez asked the witness again why he deposited D10,000 in the account of the Mansakonko Area Council. The witness restated his answer that he cannot remember the reason why he made the deposit.
“For now, I am not sure I have answers for the D10,000 deposit,” the witness said.
The witness kept on saying “I cannot remember.”
He was asked to list the names of the executive members of the regional youth group and the witness gave some names. He testified that the youth group has a bank account.
