By Makutu Manneh
In a stunning revelation, a senior revenue collector in the Kuntaur Area Council has admitted suppressing council funds amounting to ninety-four thousand dalasi.
Kebba K. Fatty appeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Monday, 27 January 2025.
Kebba Fatty, a resident of Kuntaur, confessed during a heated council hearing to underreporting revenue collected from market traders. The admission followed the audit queries against him and the investigation triggered by discrepancies in the local councils. He said he used the entire sum in the repair of his family compound after the Kuntaur flood, which affected them.
He said he has been working at the Kuntaur Area Council for 19 years. He was appointed as a market collector and worked for 15 years before he was promoted to the position of senior revenue collector, and finally to a senior accounts assistant.
He was redeployed to the internal control and audit unit of the Kuntaur Area Council. In 2018, he said he was an accounts assistant and was stationed at the Kaur sub-treasury. He held that position for 3 years.
The written statement of the witness dated 5 March 2024 was tendered and admitted in evidence.
The witness provided his letter of appointment dated 15 November 2005, another letter addressed to him dated 15 January 2009 titled ‘promotion and posting’, another letter dated 3 May 2011 with the heading and another letter reassigning the witness as an internal control officer in 2021. They were all admitted in evidence.
The witness said the internal control officer was a new position created by the Kuntaur Area Council for him. He added that this happened after he completed his course at the MDI. He testified that he was assigned to the office without any terms of reference. While occupying the office, he was informed by the internal auditor (Abdou Njie) that they will share responsibilities. He stated that his responsibility was to reconcile revenue cash books.
“But you have no experience in doing this,” Lead Counsel Gomez said.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
He said he was given that role ‘by virtue of my experience in the council’ and the other reason was that between 2019 and 2020, he was attached to the finance department where he helped the director of finance to do reconciliation of revenue cash books.
In 2018, while occupying the office of accounts assistant, the witness was found to have suppressed an amount of ninety-four thousand dalasi. The witness admitted as he explained that in August 2017, Kuntaur was affected by a heavy flood, which affected his family. He said his family was evacuated to the market site and they slept there for a while.
“That was the reason for the suppression,” he said.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez told the witness that the collections were for 19 weeks, which is a long time. He asked the witness why he was not depositing the revenue of the council in the account. The witness began by saying “yes”, referring to the timeframe before giving his justification for not depositing the funds.
“I was given green light by the CEO (Pa Fansu Darboe) to collect and renovate my compound. That was why I did not deposit the money in the bank,” he said.
Lead Counsel Gomez referred the witness to his own letter 16 July 2019 with the subject “Notification of shortage” and a letter addressed to the witness dated 25 September 2019 by the CEO. Both letters were tendered and admitted in evidence.
“Mr Fatty, you did not state in your letter that you were instructed by the CEO to use the money,” Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
He testified that when he was called to do the reconciliation, the finance manager discovered the shortage of D94,000 in the market cash book. When the matter was taken to the CEO, the witness said he reminded the CEO that he gave him verbal approval to use the money to renovate his family compound during a visit to the affected families. The witness said the CEO denied giving him such instruction.
“He [the CEO] denied saying that to me,” the witness stated.
“How much did he ask you to take?” Lead Counsel Gomez asked.
“It was fifty thousand dalasi,” the witness replied.
“So, why did you take D94,000?” Gomez asked.
The witness testified that the D94,000 comprises other shortages in the other findings made against him. The witness said he paid D40,000 in the council’s account and paid D50,000 to the finance unit while the D4000 was deducted from his monthly salary.
The witness was informed that the Kuntaur Area Council has only one account, which is a Trust Bank account. He was handed the account to show the deposits he made as repayment.
“I am having some difficulties to see because my eyes are paining me,” the witness said.
He provided two cash books for 2018 and 2019, which were admitted in evidence. The witness said it is wrong and unlawful to suppress council’s revenue.
The witness was found wanting for suppressing D94,000 and he confirmed that he used the council’s funds for his personal use. He testified that he repaid the money. He said after repaying the money he suppressed, he was issued a receipt. Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez said it appeared that the witness was collecting money for the council and ended up using the funds he collected to repay the suppressed funds. The witness testified that his cash book and receipts were seized from him, adding that he did not collect in 2019. Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness that he was collecting in 2019 as contained in his cash book. At this point, the witness said he collected revenue in 2019. He added that he did not collect in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Lead Counsel Gomez further told him that his testimony was wrong because there was no evidence of suspension. The witness agreed, but added that he was given a letter by the CEO ordering for the seizure of his revenue earning books.
Lead Counsel Gomez questioned the witness on the inconsistencies of his statement comparing it to the cash book records regarding dates of collection. He made claims that he was either sick or was on leave while the cash books he provided showed that he was collecting revenue from the people.
His testimony contradicted the evidence before the commission as contained in his personal cash book tendered in evidence. The evidence is that he was collecting revenue during this period.
The witness claimed that some of the recordings were backdated. He was asked to explain what he meant, but he did not answer the question. Instead, he stated that he was admitted at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital for 3 months.
On the D94,000 shortage in 2019. The witness said he had repaid the money and he used 2018 receipts to show that he repaid the shortage. Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness the incident was discovered in 2019 and asked how he used 2018 receipts to clear a problem discovered in 2019. Lead Counsel Gomez read a letter written by the witness in 2019 addressed to the CEO of Kuntaur Area Council requesting a payment plan for the shortage. Counsel Gomez insisted that the 2018 receipts could not have been used to pay off the shortage. He told the witness the payments he made in 2018 were what he collected as revenue from the people and not a repayment of any suppressed money. The witness insisted that he knew that he had suppressed the revenue and he was paying. He was asked the whereabouts of the bank deposit slips he claimed to have made. The witness said they were with the director of finance. He was requested to provide them and the evidence of payments he made in 2018.
After reading from the cash books and the audit reports, Lead Counsel Gomez found that the witness had suppressed other funds.
“It seems you are chronic in revenue suppression,” Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness.
“No, Counsel. Those were under statements I made,” the witness answered.
“Understatement is fraud,” the Counsel said, as he explained that the witness would collect revenue and submit less than what he collected.
The witness did not respond to the statement.
