By Makutu Manneh
Bai Gibbi Sallah, the former Finance Director of Mansakonko Area Council, has reappeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry to give evidence on the 2020 and 2021 Audit Report of the Mansakonko Area Council by the National Audit Office.
On the vehicles of the council that they had sold and the monies that were not deposited in the accounts, witness Sallah said due process was not followed in disposing of the vehicles, but insisted that the monies were deposited into the Council’s account. He asserted that the payments could be traced from the account but Counsel Patrick Gomez disagreed and gave him the Trust Bank account statement to corroborate his testimony.
Sallah pointed out that one Lamin Bojang transferred D195,000 on 16th January 2021 and made another D5000 cash deposit on 19th January 2021. He also outlined another deposit of D200, 000, but was told the vehicle was valued at D230, 000. When asked why the full money was not paid, the witness was silent and did not answer the question.
The witness said one Sheikh Boyo Sambou paid D75, 000 on 26 January 2021 and D25, 000 on 14 February 2021 into the account.
When asked about the other two buyers and their payments in the account, he requested for the GTBank statement to check. After going through the bank statement, he admitted that the payments did not reflect in the account.
“You purchased a vehicle for D100,000,” Counsel Patrick Gomez asked and the witness replied: “Yes.”
However, he later changed his statement saying he only facilitated the purchase of a vehicle for one Mr Jallow, and did not buy it for himself. He testified that Mr. Jallow paid into the Council’s account, but after checking, the witness said the payment was not in the account statement.
Counsel Patrick Gomez cautioned the witness to stop his act of giving misleading statements to Commissioners.
Asked about the scrap vehicle, he said he did not participate on the sale but was told by the procurement officer that one Pa Ceesay bought it for around 30 thousand Dalasi.
Lawyer Gomez dismissed his statement putting it to him that the scrap vehicle was sold for D7,000. Counsel Gomez asked him where the money was paid, and Sallah replied that he does not know, saying that the payments were made in Council’s account, but Counsel Gomez informed him that his statement was false since he had personally checked the bank statements of the Council and could not trace the payments.
“There is no evidence that the monies were accounted for,” Counsel Gomez told the witness who agreed and concurred that he was primarily responsible.
On the awarding of a contract from the Covid-19 food supply to Nema-su enterprise owned by one Almamo Dibba, the witness said Council had two contracts with Nema-su for the supply of rice, sugar and oil but when asked further, he changed his statement saying the contract was only one. The change in the statement came after Counsel Gomez used the written statement of the witness to confront him. In the written statement,Sallah stated that the contract was only one, but in his testimony before the Commission, he said it was two.
“Maybe I forgot but the contract was only one,” the witness said.
“You did not forget. You know that you made overpayments to Nema-su,” Counsel Patrick Gomez said. However, the witness denied making any overpayments to Nema-su.
Counsel Gomez referred Sallah to the testimony of former CEO of Mansakonko Area Council Pa Sait Ceesay, who stated that the contracts committee of the Council in a meeting agreed to award the contract to Jah Oil since it offered the best price.
The witness denied this statement but Counsel Gomez used the minutes of the meeting of the contracts committee to confront the witness and this was when he admitted that what the former CEO stated was true after reading the records of the meeting. He added that he was the one who recommended for Jah Oil to be awarded the contract for the supply of food stuff. The former CEO stated further that Bai Gibbi Sallah (the witness), was tasked to engage Jah Oil and report back to the contracts committee, but Bai Gibbi failed to report back to the Committee and the contract ended up being awarded to Nema-su.
Witness Sallah testified that at the time of awarding the contract to Nema-su, the business did not have a GPPA certificate. He said Nema-su acquired the GPPA registration after it was awarded the contract and said the testimony of the CEO of Nema-su, Almamo Dibba, that his business had a GPPA certificate at the time of being awarded the contract, was false.
“We awarded the contract to him and the procurement officer encouraged him to obtain the GPPA registration before we can pay him,” the witness said. The witness was given the invoice from Nema-su and the amount in one of the invoices was D425,750 while the other was D601,050.
After doing a calculation on all the payments made to Nema-su, the witness said the total payment made to him was D1,143,500.
After doing the calculations, Bai Gibbi then exclaimed and began swearing that those payments were not made by him.
“These were not payments that I signed. The three signatories to the Covid-19 account were I, the CEO and the Chairperson. I am not aware of those payments. This is my first time of seeing this. I am surprised,” Bai Gibbi said.
The witness said any two of the three signatories can sign for withdrawals to be made. While looking at the bank statements and after doing the calculations for all payments made to Almamo Dibba of Nema-su Enterprise, the witness said: “I did not sign for payments up to one million dalasi.”
In response to the question by Commissioner Oreme E. Joiner, the witness admitted that his failure to do monthly bank reconciliations was responsible for this because he could have noticed it.
“When you came to the Mansakonko Area Council, you scrapped the monthly bank reconciliation,” Commissioner Joiner told the witness.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
“You are the custodian of the funds. It boils down to you not being able to manage council funds,” Counsel Patrick Gomez told the witness.
“That is very true. Bank reconciliation was not done,” he said.
The witness said Almamo Dibba is well known at the council and said there was no open tender done before awarding the contract for the supply of food stuff to them.
“Why don’t you subject it to competitive bidding?” Counsel Gomez asked.
“It was not subject to that,” Bai Gibbi answered.
“Why?” Gomez asked again.
“My mind was that the funds were meant to help the people,” Bai Gibbi said.
“This was not your personal or family funds. It was public funds. You have to account for it and this is why the laws provide that you follow procedure,” Gomez said.
“Yes,” the witness said, adding that what they did was wrong and contrary to what the law provided.
The witness admitted that he made certain withdrawals from the council’s Covid account, but could not recall for what purpose.
The auditor’s report however uncovered that in 2021, 1.2 Million Dalasi was not paid by the receiving cashier of the council and there was no evidence of banking the money in the accounts. The witness argued that the funds were deposited in the accounts of the council. He was given the bank statements to show the Commission, and was accorded the chance to look into the accounts at his pace. After this, he admitted that the transactions were not in the bank statements. Bai Gibbi wanted to make reference to two deposits made in 2022, but was told that the audit finding was for 2021. This was when the witness was seen taking a long pause and keeping silent. He was still given time to look into the accounts but after a while he said: “I did cannot find it.”He told the Commission that there was only one transaction which was D40,000 deposited, but was told the transaction the auditors referred to was D40,100 and the dates were different.
“So this is not the correct reference,” Counsel Patrick Gomez told the witness.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
“You cannot show us any of those transactions in the accounts,” Gomez said.
“Yes,” the witness replied.
“Why will you not deposit these funds?” Counsel Gomez asked.
The witness was silent. He chose not to answer the question, but later said all the cheques he received were deposited in the accounts.
Commissioner Oreme E. Joiner interjected and told the witness that the auditors were saying he issued over 50 receipts for different transactions which amounted to over 1.2 Million Dalasi and yet, the funds were not deposited in the accounts at the bank. He dismissed the witness’ claim that it was cheques and told him that it was a series of transactions for over 50 receipts. The witness attempted to dispute the audit findings and he was asked to read his own statement wherein he mentioned that he used to issue receipts.
“It is simple. They [the auditors] are saying you issued receipts which you confirm, but they cannot trace the money in the account and you have also confirmed that the money is not in the account,” Commissioner Joiner told the witness.
The witness was silent and did not reply.
Counsel Patrick Gomez proceeded with the witness on the issue of 1.5 Million Dalasi unaccounted revenue. The witness asked for a chance to get GTR books to respond to the audit queries. He was granted his request.
The witness in response to Counsel Patrick Gomez’s question as to why he did not keep a cash book, said as the former finance director, it was difficult for him to understand a cash book. When asked why he did not operate on the cash book system, the witness said it was an error on his part.
“If I cannot operate a cash book then I am incompetent,” the witness replied.
“You confirm the suggestion that your acts were either deliberate or you were incompetent,” Gomez told the witness.
The witness was silent and did not respond. The Counsel asked again but the witness continued to be silent. The witness further admitted that he could not prepare a financial statement.
“Yes, I cannot prepare a financial statement,” the former finance director of Mansakonko Area Council said. He was informed about the letters the former CEO, Pa Sait Ceesay, sent to the Ministry, the Local Government Service Commission and the National Assembly Select Committee on Local Government accusing him (the witness) of incompetence. The witness testified that the allegations by the former CEO regarding his incompetence were true.
The witness was asked about the operations of the Conference Center of Mansakonko Area Council built in Mansakonko having rooms for guests and conference halls. He said he was not directly responsible saying the CEO was the one directing the operations of the Center.
The witness was asked about the privately sourced receipt books. He said former CEO Pa Sait Ceesay printed the first 10 receipt books and during the tenure of former CEO Seedy Touray, he printed another set of books. He testified that Momodoun Saidybah was appointed as the Center Manager.
The auditors revealed that D977,600 of the funds collected from the conference center was not deposited in the bank since they could not trace it in any of the bank accounts.
“I have little control over the conference centre,” the witness said.
The witness stated that he complained about Momodou Saidybah saying it was wrong for him to become the Centre Manager and the Cashier of the Center, responsible for receiving cash and banking it. The witness alleged that sometimes Momodou Saidybah used to give money to the CEO, but he was told that Momodou Saidybah had testified before the Commission that he used to give money to the Director of Finance. Bai Gibbi denied this statement saying he has never received any money from Momodou Saidybah. The total Momodou Saidybah allegedly retired at the Finance Unit and was issued receipt was D623,098.
“He used to give money to your finance unit. If not, why was he issued receipts by you?” Counsel Gomez asked the witness.
The witness said Momodou Saidybah used to come with bank deposit slips and this is when they issued him receipts. He was given the bank statements including the Supersonicz Micro-Finance Account where the supposed funds of the conference centre are deposited. After going through the bank statements, the witness said it wasn’t in the bank accounts.
“You can see the receipts and the receipt numbers you issued Momodou Saidybah. These are monies not in the accounts. There is no evidence that the monies were banked. Where is the money?” Counsel Gomez asked.
The witness was silent.
“You confirm receiving money from Momodou Saidybah by issuing him receipts,” Gomez said.
“I can confirm that I only received deposit slips from him and then issued him a receipt,” the witness said.
“But the money is not in the bank. There is no evidence of deposit,” Counsel Patrick Gomez said.
The witness insisted that he never received any cash from Momodou Saidybah. At this point, Chairperson Jainaba Bah referred the witness to the bank statements showing that he was personally making deposits into the account for the centre. When asked the source of the money, the witness said he cannot remember who gave him the money. He was asked to state where he got the money he personally deposited in the account, but he kept repeating “I don’t know who gave me the money.”
The auditors noted that Mansakonko Area Council used to duplicate receipt books with the same serial numbers.
“Yes, that is true,” the witness said.
The auditors also noted that over one million dalasi was received by the cashier, Seedy Sanneh, but the money was not traced in the accounts. Those were monies he issued receipts for but they were not traced in the accounts. The witness checked all the bank statements and confirmed that the payments were not in the account. However, he shifted blame on his subordinates saying they did not follow instructions.
“It means you were not following the instructions in the Financial Manual. How can you blame the cashier when receipts were issued in your name and under your instructions? It is your responsibility,” Counsel Gomez said.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
The auditors also noted that the guest house manager received D318,000 and recorded it in his cash book, but it was not traced in the bank statements. The witness checked the bank statements and confirmed that the money was not in the accounts.
“You are responsible based on the financial manual,” Counsel Gomez said.
“Yes,” the witness stated. The auditors also noted that the Director of Finance used to make payments without the authority of the CEO. The witness admitted that the CEO does not sign all payments, but he was aware of all transactions. He admitted that he and the CEO used to make illegal payments by not following due process as prescribed in the financial rules. He also admitted that he used to prepare vouchers contrary to what the rules provide. The witness, after several pieces of evidence was used to confront him, admitted that most of their transactions were cash based contrary to his earlier statement that the overwhelming majority of the transactions were through cheque.
“Sometimes we forget,” the witness said.
“You donot forget. You donot follow the rules,” Counsel Gomez said.
The auditors noted voucher number duplication.
“If you duplicate vouchers you make payments twice,” Counsel Patrick Gomez said.
The witness was silent and chose not to answer the question. After a follow-up, the witness answered in the affirmative confirming that they used to do double payments for single transactions.
“How can you duplicate vouchers?” Gomez asked.
The witness said they used to duplicate voucher numbers. The auditors uncovered the amount paid using duplicate vouchers was over thirty thousand dalasi, and labelled such payments as not genuine. He was also asked why he was not withholding tax from the contracts they gave out. The witness said he never knew about withholding tax until it was raised by the auditors.
“Do you think that is a reasonable excuse?” Counsel Patrick Gomez asked, with the witness smiling as he dodged the question.
He was asked to answer the question and he exclaimed “If you don’t know you don’t know”. He was told that the law makes it a duty on him to withhold tax and he accepted it.
Another audit finding was the unaccounted amount of D1, 451,805 being monies collected by revenue collectors but there was no evidence of banking them with the money not traced in the accounts of the council.
“I have never received any cash from any revenue collector,” the witness said.
He was told that some revenue collectors said they used to give him cash. He was shown two receipts to look at. In response, Bai Gibbi said the signatures on the receipts were not his but admitted that the receipts were from his office. He added that the CEO used to instruct some of the revenue collectors to spend some of the revenue they collected without banking it.
The witness admitted that he and the CEO made some payments that could not be traced until now and they cannot account for them.
“Some are mistakes. Some are serious mistakes. Some are deliberate,” Bai Gibbi said. He said the Bureng Guest House was not generating money for the council contrary to the CEO’s testimony. He said D170,000 was used to refurbish a toilet by the council and it was given to a company owned by the Finance Manager. He said the man behind the project was the Director of Planning. He added that he was not in support of the project. He admitted that he signed the contract papers for the council, but at the time he did not know the company belonged to the Finance Manager. The auditors also noticed that the witness, as the finance director, made huge withdrawals from the accounts of the council.
“I was not supposed to make withdrawals,” the witness said, adding that “I was doing it for the convenience of the staff.”
“You were appointed to follow the rules and not to work for the convenience of the staff,” Counsel Gomez said.
The witness testified that the Reliance and Supersonicz accounts were receiving accounts and they did not conduct transactions through those accounts. He was given the account statements showing he was doing withdrawals from the account. When asked what he used the money for, he said he could not remember.
He testified that the council purchased another land for D300,000 from one Baba Musa Trawally without doing any evaluation. He said the purpose was to use the land as a car park. He added that the CEO and the Chairman did the transactions while he signed the cheques for payment. He testified that he does not know the size of the land.
