By Makutu Manneh
Bai Gibbi Sallah, the Finance Director and current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Basse Area Council, has admitted before the Local Government Commission that the method they used to dispose of Council’s three vehicles was fraudulent.
Mr Sallah accepted this when Counsel Gomez informed him about the 2020 and 2021 audit report which indicated that their action of selling the vehicles was fraudulent. At the time, he said there was no disposal committee as required by the GPPA Act.
According to the 2020 and 2021 Audit Report for Mansakonko Area Council, the three vehicles were disposed of without due process being followed, with one of the vehicles sold for D250,000 while the other two were sold for D50,000 each.
Testifying further, Sallah said the vehicles were more than three and that there were two Mitsubishi Pajeros, a Toyota Hilux pickup and a Volvo. He said the contract committee decided to sell the vehicles because the cost of repair was high, adding that the committee agreed that one of the vehicles should be sold at D550,000 but it was later lowered to D250,000.
When asked whether the contracts committee approved the lowering of the price from D550,000 to D250,000, the witness said there was no formal meeting to reduce the price, and further explained that the decision was made by the CEO and himself. He admitted that this was an error on his part but Counsel Gomez further interjected and said: “You, the CEO and the procurement officer unlawfully decided to reduce the price.”
“Yes, that is true,” the witness replied.
On why he went against the decision of the contract committee, Sallah answered that it was necessitated by the condition of the vehicles.
However, Counsel Patrick Gomez read a portion of the buyers’ written statements which stated that they negotiated the price with the Finance Director who in this case is the witness himself. The witness,however,denied the allegation, saying he did not negotiate the price with any of them.
The Counsel further told him that as the Finance Director, he also purchased one of the vehicles but the witness denied the suggestion, saying he helped one Mr Jallow to purchase one of the vehicles but he did not directly benefit from it. The witness was asked to read the declaration form he signed indicating that he had no interest in the vehicles.
Counsel Gomez then asked the witness why he lied on oath, when he made a declaration which he signed, to indicate that he does not have interest in the vehicles, Sallah, (the witness) remained silent because he could not provide an answer.
The Deputy Lead Counsel further told him that he went to Basse Area Council and started preaching while he has done such when he was at Masakonko Area Council.
At this juncture, the witness changed his statement and admitted that he spoke to the buyers. He also agreed with Counsel Gomez that no proper auction took place for the vehicles.
“Why did you sell to your friends and to yourselves and why were you involved in that fraudulent act?” Counsel Gomez asked.
The witness continued to remain silent and did not provide any answer to Council Gomez’ questions.
