By Mariama Marong
Police fraud investigator Sheriff Corr Tuesday, 20 February 2024, continued to give testimony in the economic crimes and corruption case involving three senior health officials standing trial before Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court.
The accused persons are Bala Kandeh, Muhammadou Lamin Jaiteh and Omar Malleh Jassey. The three senior health officials are standing trial on 18 criminal counts: Official Corruption, Disobedience of Statutary Duty, Conspiracy to Commit Felony, Economic Crimes, Forgery, Theft and others.
Corr, said he wrote the cautionary statement of Omar Ceesay, the second accused person. The statement was tendered by the Director of Public Prosecutions Abdul Maita Yusuf and there was no objection from the Defence Counsel, Lamin S. Camara. It was admitted into evidence and marked as an exhibit.
The witness said copies of the files were recovered from Omar Ceesay during the investigation. He added that the files contained the name of the consultants. The consultancy reports were shown to the witness to identify and he confirmed to the court that the documents were the ones they recovered during the investigations.
Defense Counsel L.S. Camara informed the court that he has not received any consultancy report and it is also not indicated in the bill of indictment filed by the State. Lawyer Camara informed the court that they were not served with the documents. At this point, the Judge called on the prosecution to serve the defence with all the documents they intend to rely on.
The witness stated that (Omar Ceesay) the second accused person informed them that their association, HEPDO, would take responsibility for the missing or unaccounted monies.
Lawyer Camara began cross-examination of the witness. The witness said he is a corporal.
“Did you or did you not write an investigative report after end of the investigation?” Lawyer Camara asked.
“Yes, we did,” he answered.
The case was adjourned to 26 February 2024 at 1 pm for the continuation of cross-examination.
