By Mamadou Dem Lawyer Lamin Mboge, attorney for the former Kanilai farm manager, Lang Conteh, yesterday, 24 February, 2015 disclosed to the lower court in Banjul that he would file a ‘No case-submission’ onbehalf of his client following the prosecution’s announcement of the closure of their case after presenting their last witness. Mr Conteh is standing trial before Principal Magistrate Dawda Jallow on a single count of ‘theft’. He is charged for allegedly stealing the sum of D1, 538,804.95 from Kanilai Family Farm, while serving as its managing director. He however denied any wrongdoing on the first day he appeared in court before first trial magistrate Lamin Mbye. The case was then taken over by magistrate Dawda Jallow on the 4th of August, last year. The accused was admitted to a bail in the sum of D2 million and ordered to provide two Gambian sureties one of whom was asked to deposit a title deed within the Greater Banjul Area. When the case resumed yesterday, Tuesday, 24 February, 2015 for continuation of hearing, Sub-Inspector Alpha Badjie announced his appearance for the Inspector General of Police (IGP), adding that the witness was in court and he was ready to proceed. The accused is represented by Lawyer Mboge. Testifying as the final prosecution witness, the director of technical services at Ministry of Works, Construction and infrastructure, Malang Jammeh, a civil servant and resident of Tujering, told the court what transpired between him and the accused regarding this case. According to the witness, in February last year, he received a letter from the office of the Inspector General of Police for his ministry to send evaluators to evaluate the work that was been done at the Kanilai building complex in Banjul. He said the exercise was conducted after sending two engineers who were accompanied by one Inspector Conteh together with the accused himself in order to show to the engineers the work that was done by the contractors. “The work was compiled and sent to the office of the IGP on February 14, 2014 at a tune of D1million. Another assessment was made again based on the request by the Inspector Conteh which was also sent to the office of the IGP and I would be able to recognize the said evaluation reports if shown to me,” he said. Sub-inspector Badjie, at this juncture, applied to tender the said evaluation report as exhibit which was admitted without objection from the defence. Under cross-examination by the defence, the witness acknowledged that the supplementary report was not contained in the said evaluation report tendered but was instead sent to the IGP. At this point, the matter was adjourned to the 17th of March for adoption of briefs. Mr Conteh was the former Director of Foreign Exchange at the Central Bank of The Gambia prior to his appointment as Kanilai farm manager.]]>
