By Kebba AF Touray
Mr. Alpha Barry, Chairman of Alpha Kapital, reappeared before the Special Select Committee on Thursday, September 11, 2025, to continue his testimony regarding the sale and disposal of assets identified by the Janneh Commission as belonging to former President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh.
Mr. Barry detailed the process for the sale of vehicles previously owned by the former president. According to documents presented, the first advertisement for five vehicles appeared in local newspapers—Foroyaa, The Point, and The Standard—on September 11, 2019, with a submission deadline of September 19, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. The vehicles were parked, assessed, and valued by MM Coker and Sons in Kololi, with the valuations forming the basis for the reserve prices.
“The trustee team collected the sealed bid results from MM Coker, where all bids were submitted in line with the advertisements,” Barry explained. “The receiver opened the bids and announced the amounts to the team. We received 20 bids for all vehicles except the Land Rover. The total reserved price was D2,075,000, and the total amount received was D2,168,000. Successful bidders were notified the same day, followed by offer letters with a seven-day deadline, with payments to be made to a designated Eco Bank account.”
Barry also discussed the sale of scrapped vehicles and spare parts, which were assessed and valued by Mr. Mamadou Mambureh, a consultant to the Janneh Commission. These were sold to the highest bidder for D310,000. He further explained that of a third set of 10 vehicles, six were sold to Africa Leixus Group for D1 million, while the remaining four were sold for D385,000 following a valuation by Mambureh. In total, he confirmed that 19 vehicles were sold across different locations.
Turning to company valuations, Barry testified on GT Bank Limited, indicating that estimates of 100 percent equity ranged from D835 million to D960 million as of December 31, 2018. When asked about Comium Company Limited, he said that the receiver engaged its management after shares previously held by Bazzi were transferred to the office of the Attorney General. “At the time, we held about 5 percent of the company,” he said. “Comium was in serious difficulty and nearly collapsed. We agreed with management on an independent valuation, which took four to six weeks, likely in late 2020 going into 2021. Based on financial years 2014 through 2017 and management accounts for 2018, the valuer estimated 100 percent equity value between D5.2 million and D6.3 million. We ultimately agreed on D5.7 million.”
Throughout the hearing, Barry emphasized that all transactions were conducted with legal oversight, including mandates and clearances from the office of the Attorney General, and that independent valuations were used to ensure fairness.
The committee is expected to review all related documents and valuations, with follow-up testimonies from other officials and stakeholders anticipated in the coming weeks.
