By Makutu Manneh
The Local Government Commission of Inquiry has on Wednesday made chilling discoveries in a Brikama Area Council revenue collector’s cash book.
The revenue collector, Modou Jadama, was issued a cash book to record all his collections. The Commission noted that Jadama was collecting revenue from people, but did not record it in his cash book.
The Commission noted that some revenue collectors would testify and claim that their cash books were missing or left in the Council. In such cases, Commissioners will command them to bring their cash books. In Jadama’s scenario, he was having the cash book and not recording his collections. Below is the detail summary of the testimony of Modou Jadama.
The written statement of the witness was tendered and admitted in evidence. He said he started working in the Brikama Area Council (BAC) in 2003.
The witness provided his cash book covering 2020 to date. It was tendered and admitted in evidence. The witness stated that his previous cash book covering 2003 to 2019 was exhausted and handed to the Council. He was instructed to produce the cash book.
The witness was questioned on the shortages recorded from his collections. Shortage means the person deposits less than what he or she collected. It could also mean the person does not deposit the money in the accounts of the council.
The witness was asked his D6,000 shortage. He admitted that the audit finding against him was correct. He testified that the shortage was D5,425 instead of D6,000. He mentioned that he made a part payment on 21st July 2023 for an amount of D4,900. He said he still did not pay the outstanding balance.
The witness was also questioned on his habitual absence from weekly reconciliation and auditing in the Council. He admitted that he used to stay for some time without going for the weekly reconciliation and auditing.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez told the witness that the reason why he does not go for weekly reconciliation was because he used to spend council funds on his private activities. The witness denied this saying “I used to go for auditing.”
Lead Counsel Gomez used the lodgement register provided to the Commission by the Internal Audit Unit of the BAC indicating all the revenue collectors who go for auditing and those who do not go.
The witness after going through the lodgement records confirmed that his name was there in the list as someone who does not go for weekly auditing. He came up with another version saying he used to go, but he does not sign the lodgement register.
Counsel Patrick Gomez gave him the lodgement register and asked him whether he signed them. His response to all the questions was “I forget.”
“You can forget as much as possible, but that won’t exonerate you. You keep on forgetting and I will keep on showing you evidence that you do not go for the weekly submissions,” Counsel Gomez said.
He showed the witness some more lodgement register otherwise known as the rolls. The witness would say “I forget” each time he looks into a lodgement roll.
“Let’s see how far you go with forgetting. You keep on forgetting,” Gomez said.
“Yes, I forget,” the witness said.
The witness was questioned regarding his collections without accounting for them. The collections included D3,500, D1,925, D4,950 and D2,700.
“These are just some. The issue was you were not present,” Counsel Gomez told the witness.
“Yes, I was not there for auditing,” the witness answered.
The witness finally admitted that he was not going for auditing.
Counsel Gomez noted that that the cash book began in 2020 and stopped in 2021.
“There are a few entries for 2023. Most of the pages only have receipts. There is gap,” Gomez said.
Gomez added: “The last entry was 25th February 2021 and there is nothing in 2022 except for receipts. There are few entries for 2023.”
The cash book was shown to the Commissioners to see and later shown to the witness to confirm that the entries stopped in 2021. The witness was asked to show the Commission the entries from March 2021 to the end of 2022. The witness confirmed that there were no entries in the cash book of his collections. Ordinarily, a revenue collector is issued with a cash book to record all the collections made indicating the amounts collected and the dates of collection among other information.
“I do not record my collections in the cash book,” the witness said.
The witness claimed that in 2021, he used to deposit his collections in the accounts of the BAC at Eco Bank and Vista Bank. He could not trace his deposits from the Eco Bank and Vista Bank statements of account. The witness during his testimony placed heavy reliance on receipts he obtained from the Cashier of the Council. He was informed by the Commission that the account statements of the BAC did not capture any of his acclaimed deposits.
The Commission noted that the Cashier used to give the witness receipts for deposits, but the bank accounts of the BAC have no records of such deposits. This means he was not depositing in the Council’s account.
On 12 June 2021, the witness claimed that he deposited D6,000 in the bank and he was issued with a receipt of D6000 by the Cashier of the Council. The Commission noted that the deposit in the Vista Bank statement of account was for D10,300.
“I paid D6,000 and that is what reflected in the receipt I got from the Council,” the witness said.
Chairperson Jainaba Bah asked the witness to provide an explanation on the discrepancies. The receipt from the council indicated D6,000, the bank deposit slip indicated D6,000 but the bank statement indicated D10,000.
Thw witness blamed the Principal Cashier for the mistake.
“You cannot steal explain the difference,” Chairperson Bah told the witness.
The witness said he does not understand why there were differences.
“Your cash book has no entries. You only have receipts attached to plain sheets of papers. How do you reconcile with the Principal Cashier?” Chairperson Bah asked.
The witness said he collects revenue and goes to the IT Unit to obtain the print out of his collection and then go to the bank and deposit. He added that from the bank, he comes with the printout and the deposit slip to the Principal Cashier, who in turn issues him receipt.
Time was up. He will reappear today.
