Africa-Press – Gambia. Accountant General Agnes Macauley on Wednesday appeared before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee investigating the sale and disposal of assets belonging to former President Yahya Jammeh. She provided detailed testimony on how funds from the asset sales were deposited and managed.
Macauley informed the committee that the Janjanbureh Sub-Treasury Account had an opening balance of D28,750, noting that this amount was not part of the Jammeh asset proceeds. She said total deposits linked to the sales amounted to D5,819,000, while D5,818,000 was transferred onward.
She clarified that the account in question also handled other sub-treasury transactions, meaning not all entries were connected to the Jammeh assets.
“Visibly, by looking at the descriptions on the document, I can only take those that are captured here explicitly and are relating to, or make mention of, the Jammeh asset sale,” she explained.
A reconciliation sheet presented by counsel Aji Sainey Kah showed the transfer of D5,818,000, leaving a D1,000 shortfall. Macauley attributed this remaining balance to banking regulations that prohibit drawing an account down to zero before year-end.
“According to the MOU we have with the banks, there should be a balance in the accounts, so in transferring, you do not bring the account to zero unless and until it’s 31st December,” she said.
She added that a dedicated reconciliation team manages sub-treasury account balancing, particularly for transactions involving the movement of funds into the Janneh Commission recovery account.
“We have a reconciliation team that handles some of the subtreasury bank accounts reconciliation, especially for this activity to support the movement of funds from the bank account to that of the Janneh recovery account,” she said.
Committee members also pointed out minor inconsistencies between the bank statements and the reconciliation sheet, including two entries dated 10 October 2018. Macauley agreed that a thorough reconciliation is required to clearly differentiate proceeds from Jammeh asset sales from other sub-treasury activities.
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