By Yankuba Jallow
Abdoulie J. Corr, the Internal Audit Manager of the Banjul City Council (BCC), told the Local Government Commission of Inquiry last Monday that he was offered D750,000 to stop investigating questionable financial activities within the Council and to keep quiet.
He said the offer was made in a private meeting with two other people, inside the office of a senior Council official. According to Corr, he was told the money was meant to persuade him to walk away from his duties and stay silent. The reason given, he said, was that the local government elections were coming, and speaking up could damage certain political interests of the mayor.
Corr said he refused the offer. That moment became the most serious part of his long and detailed testimony before the Commission, which is investigating the financial and administrative operations of all local councils in The Gambia between May 2018 and January 2023. Corr’s story not only raised concerns about corruption but also revealed the pressure faced by those tasked with keeping public institutions accountable.
Before discussing the bribe offer, Corr gave the Commission a stack of official documents related to his career at BCC, including appointment and transfer letters going back to 2002. Some key documents, like his promotion to Internal Audit Manager, were missing. He said those were lost when his house was flooded.
But the hearing quickly moved from personal paperwork to much larger problems.
Corr said he had raised concerns for years about how money was being spent at the Council. One of the issues involved RAFAELA, a civil society group. He admitted receiving a payment from the Council on behalf of RAFAELA, which he said he later returned because it created a conflict of interest — as he was also supposed to audit those same funds.
Then came the EU project — a major European Union-funded initiative at BCC, which Corr helped launch. He said that although he was involved in drafting the initial budget, he stepped back from the project after noticing serious problems. According to him, project leaders ignored proper hiring procedures, awarded contracts to unqualified vendors, and approved large payments without proper oversight.
One vendor, Dems Trading, was normally a stationery supplier. Corr questioned why this company was paid to supply coconut trees — something far outside its area of business. He said he personally stopped the payment and went to purchase the trees himself through a proper channel. He also said his advice was often ignored by top officials, who pushed ahead with decisions without consulting him.
Corr gave specific examples of how money was being used in ways he believed were improper. He talked about a trip to the Canary Islands where project staff, including coordinators, paid themselves D19,000 each for just three days — far more than the normal government allowance. He said the total cost of that trip alone was more than D1 million. He also mentioned that some foreign partners were paid 5,000 euros each — payments he was not made aware of until much later.
Throughout his testimony, Corr repeated that these were not mistakes or accidents. He believed they were deliberate actions. He said that once he started raising concerns, some officials pressured him to stop. That pressure, he said, eventually led to the D750,000 offer.
He claimed the offer was made in the presence of two others — one of whom told him the mayor was a family member, and that speaking out could damage her political career. Corr said he still refused. Later, he wrote a resignation letter, frustrated by the situation. He eventually chose early retirement at age 45.
Corr also told the Commission that he requested financial records for the EU project — including receipts, contracts, bank statements, and reports — but was either ignored or told to follow up with others. He said many of those documents were never provided.
All of the documents he submitted to the Commission — letters, memos, payment vouchers — were accepted as evidence and marked as exhibits.
The Commission is expected to call him back today for more questioning.
