Africa-Press – Gambia. Former Auditor General Karamba Touray has said he does not believe the National Assembly Members could conduct a thorough investigation into the many unresolved matters surrounding the sale and disposal of assets seized from former president Jammeh.
The Assembly on Thursday appointed a seven-member committee to probe the sale and disposal of the assets in 120 days. Auditors in 2019 reported D22M unaccounted for in the proceeds of the sale and demanded documents that were never supplied.
Commenting on the issue, Mr Touray told Membekering TV, that the parliamentary committee may not have the right expertise to do the job with satisfying results.
He said the Assembly should instead provide the auditors unhindered access to all documents and allow them to conduct a review on them and report back to them for actions on the findings.
“I was worried and scared when I heard that the National Assembly is to probe the sale assets. I said to someone this is not going to work because there is no expertise. In fact, the sales of Jammeh assets is not a new matter. So what made it urgent for them to set up a commission,?” Mr Touray asked.
He said he doubt the inquiry would go to the roots of the problem including the appointment of the auctioneers but it’s only likely to look only into the sales and what assets were sold and what was not.
“For me this is only going to be a cosmetic exercise because the expertise is not in the National Assembly. Let them work with the auditors and ensure that all documents requested in the course of their work are provided to them. The National Assembly is the reporting agency of the National Audit Office. So let them allow the auditors to have access to all the documents and do a review and come out with results. I have no doubt that they [National Audit Office] will do a good job when given access to all the documents they have been asking for and will come up with acceptable results,” he said.
Mr Touray said during his time he was not aware of any special account where proceeds of the assets were saved and was also not privy to documentations about the cows until he heard it from the president’s speech.
He added that it would have been ideal if these and other new data released by the government are given to the auditors to examine and report back to the Assembly instead of a special inquiry, which he argued, may add salt to injury.
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