By Makutu Manneh
Gibbi Fatty, a revenue collector at the Brikama Area Council (BAC) has admitted before members of the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that he used to suppress the Council’s revenue.
He made this admission following a question from the Commission on why he used the Council’s revenue for his personal use. Further responding to the Commissioner’s questions, the witness said he used to go with his private vehicle for assessments and used the Council’s revenue to repair his vehicle when he got breakdowns. The witness explained that the vehicle belongs to him and was purchased by his brother residing abroad, and said the Council used to fuel the vehicle. The witness was asked about a sum of thirty one thousand Dalasi (D31,000) revenue he collected between the 7th of July to 5th of October 2022, using the revenue collection device and he failed to declare it.
In his response, the witness admitted and said he was aware of it. He was informed about other findings against him on 18th October 2018, when he failed to declare sum of D2,250; on 5th October 2018 he failed to declare the sum of D2,000 and on 19th October 2018, when he failed to declare the sum of D28,050, amounting to thirty-two thousand, three hundred Dalasi (D32,300). The witness in response said he had seen it and has made payments to Council after the audit findings were made against him.
He said he was not aware of the anomaly and said he had no explanation to make.
“Why do you make entries in your cash book and cancel them?” Chairperson Jainaba Bah asked the witness.
“I make mistakes sometimes,” the witness answered.
“Every page in your cash book has a cancellation. Were all these mistakes?” Chairperson Bah probed further.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
“It is not true,” Chairperson Bah told the witness.
“It is true,” the witness replied.
“Why do you make cancellations and the total of whatever you collected does not tally?” the head of the Commission asked the witness.
“It tallies,” the witness replied.
The witness was given his cash book to ascertain what the Chairperson questioned him, based on the recordings therein, but he was not able to justify his claim that his collections tallied with the total in his cash book.
The witness was told that he used to dodge auditing because he missed some audit processes, which he admitted. He was also informed that in most cases, he does not go to the Internal Audit Unit for auditing. The witness admitted that he failed to go for auditing, but had deposited the monies he collected in the bank.
When asked to produce the receipt from his cash book, the witness said there were no receipts at the time and sometimes he used to forget to collect them. He was given the Eco Bank statement for the Brikama Area Council to show the Commission the collection he claimed to have made in April 2022, regarding thirty thousand and two hundred Dalasi (D30,200) and a GT Receipt dated 7th April 2022.
“It is not here,” the witness said. He was again given the GT Bank statement of account for the Brikama Area Council but he replied: “It is not here.”
He was given the Trust Bank account statement of the Brikama Area Council, and he confirmed that the amount was not in the account.
On his appointment, Fatty said he was appointed in 2006 and said he was not promoted since the date of his appointment as a revenue collector. He said in 2018 he was a ‘flat rates’ collector in New Yundum and spent almost five years there before he was moved to Old Yundum.
Sittings continues.
