Africa-Press – Gambia. Alpha Barry of Alpha Kapital Advisory appeared on Wednesday before the National Assembly Special Select Committee investigating the sale and disposal of assets belonging to former President Yahya Jammeh. His testimony centered on his appointment and role as receiver of Jammeh’s assets.
Barry told the committee that he was appointed in June 2019 following a discussion with then-Attorney General Abubacarr “Ba” Tambadou during Ramadan in Mecca that year. He clarified that he had no prior personal relationship with the Attorney General before his appointment, which was later formalized through an official letter.
When asked by Counsel Kah about the duration of his mandate, Barry explained that the initial appointment was for six months
“Did you also discuss the duration of the appointment?” counsel Kah asked.
“I believe it’s an initial period of 6 months,” he said.
Counsel questioned whether the proposed timeframe was realistic given the scope of work. The witness responded that he had not anticipated the full extent of the task and explained that only once in the field does the true scale of the challenge become clear. For that reason, the team ultimately opted for a six-month period.
“If you look at the Janneh commission, you are talking about at least two hundred properties, so if you look at the initial masteries that they shared with me, we are looking at fifty-seven properties. Now, when you have it, you start to think about how to make this complex transaction simple so that it is transparent, and it’s easy to audit,” he said.
The witness further testified that the team devised strategies early on, one of which was to avoid placing all the properties on the market simultaneously. They explained that releasing everything at once would overwhelm the market, so a phased approach was adopted.
When asked whether the meeting also addressed payment arrangements, the witness confirmed that it did.
“What was the agreement with regard to the fee between you and the attorney general?” she inquired.
In response, the witness read from his appointment letter, which specified a fee of 10 percent for all transactions involving the listed companies and 5 percent for transactions related to the management of former President Yahya Jammeh’s shares at Guarantee Trust Bank, Gam Petroleum, and other companies in The Gambia.
“So 10% with regard to transactions of this company, but also 5% when it came to shares. So the companies owned by President Jammeh were the ones that would attract the 10% fee. Was it that the shares in the company owned by his close associates were the ones that would attract the 5%?” counsel pressed.
The witness replied in the affirmative but noted that the arrangement was later revised. Following the first phase of asset disposal, the results exceeded expectations. The Attorney General and Solicitor General subsequently invited him to a meeting and proposed reducing the fee to 5 percent across all transactions.
“You have seen the report, we believe really we are really proposing to bring the fees to 5%.” Given that the outcome had been far better than anticipated, with bids averaging 34 percent above the guide price, and in the interest of fairness, I agreed,” the witness explained.
He further testified that he was aware that Mr. Prom had been appointed as receiver of certain assets belonging to Jammeh, but he did not know whether Mr. Prom still held that position. He clarified that his own assignment was strictly limited to the disposal of assets.
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