By Mariama Marong
Bai Omar Joof, Head of the Foreign Currency Management Department at the Central Bank of The Gambia, on Monday, 14 July 2025, testified before Justice Sidi Jobarteh at the High Court in Banjul in the ongoing trial involving forged United States dollar notes.
The accused persons, Wilfred Sayee and Jonathan Papa Flomo, are jointly charged with six counts, including purchasing forged notes contrary to Section 334 of the Criminal Code and obtaining goods by false pretence contrary to Section 288 of the same code.
Joof told the court that the counterfeit notes were detected using the Central Bank’s currency detector machine. He said the police had brought the foreign notes to the Bank for verification, and their machine revealed that the notes were fake.
The witness explained that his department is responsible for issuing foreign currency at the Central Bank, receiving deposits from commercial banks, and overseeing all government project accounts under its purview.
Joof said in cases of suspected forged foreign notes, the police contact his department and submit the currency for confirmation. After conducting their checks, the department responds to the police with the findings.
He informed the court that genuine U.S. dollar notes have a softer texture compared to fake ones. “We use our detector machine to determine whether the foreign US dollar brought by the police is fake or not,” Joof said. “Our detector shows that the watermark is missing, UV and mark are all missing, and there were two notes with the same serial number. That proves that the notes were fake.”
During cross-examination, the first accused, Wilfred Sayee, asked the witness whether he could confirm that the forged notes belonged to him. Joof replied, “I was not there when the police were interrogating and investigating, and I cannot tell whether it is from you or not — but the notes were fake.”
Sayee further questioned whether it was lawful for authorities to take the fake notes without his presence. In response, Joof said the money was brought to the Central Bank by the police for verification, and their findings confirmed the notes were counterfeit. The accused persons were not represented by a lawyer during the proceedings.
Justice Sidi Jobarteh adjourned the matter to 28th July 2025 at 11:00 a.m. for continuation.
