By: Kebba AF Touray
Ex-President Jammeh, is said to have received a net purchase of US$7.3 million from the sale of Gambia’s leading hotels, Kairaba Beach Hotel.
This information was revealed by the Janneh Commission of Inquiry which was established in 2017 to probe the financial dealings of former President Jammeh, his family members and close associates.
According to the white paper, Ex-President Jammeh has compelled the transfer of kairaba beach hotel to his company called the Millennium Company and then purported to sell the shares to M.A Kharafi and Sons Ltd.
The commission’s findings indicate MA Kharafi and Songs Ltd, bought Kairaba Beach Hotel from millennium in June 2004 in the tune of US$10 million, less US$2,632,573.82 to pay as liability owed by the vendor of Standard Chartered Bank.
The commission also found that US$5 million was stolen by Baba Jobe and used to purchase all the shares in Side Gambia Invest, which owned the Kairaba hotel.
“The shares were held by west Coast Properties Ltd, a company owned by Baba Jobe and Lang Conteh, to transfer the shares to his company( Millenium Industrial and General Trading), an offshore company registered in Maluaga, Alosi , Nieu, owned by former president Jammeh”, says the commission.
The commission also found that the US$5 million transfer from Central Bank can be directly traced to the acquisition of the Kairaba Hotel, and therefore, there was a clean substitute of the money for the shares.
“The shares acquired should have been put in the name of The Gambia Government, instead the transfer was put in the name of a private company( West Coast ), was consequently illegal and amounted to a clear act of misappropriation or theft of money or shares by former president Jammeh”, the commission report said.
