Africa-Press – Gambia. The Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG), Buah Saidy, has confirmed that Access Bank and Ecobank have been sanctioned for their involvement in transactions linked to companies associated with the Russian oil scandal.
Speaking during a question-and-answer session following the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, Governor Saidy said the CBG acted swiftly after the matter came to light, preparing a detailed report for the National Assembly and providing technical guidance on the issue.
According to the governor, both banks were fined D200,000 each, with the amount immediately deducted from their reserves held at the Central Bank.
“When we discovered this, the banks involved we sanctioned them. And the parliamentary report says that we should penalize the banks; when we discussed it, we immediately penalized these two banks. And you ask for the amount; this should be confidential, but in the interest of transparency, we charged each bank 200,000 and immediately took it out of their reserves here. We did not even say send us a check, and we kept the money for the Gambian people,” Governor Saidy explained.
He emphasized that the CBG’s role is strictly regulatory, while further investigations fall under the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
Governor Saidy also rejected attempts to implicate the Central Bank in the operations of private commercial accounts, stressing that account opening and management are the responsibility of commercial banks, under guidelines provided by the CBG.
“This Apogee investigation, people are trying to draw the Central Bank into this; we have nothing to do with this. As a central bank, I have said it in front of the parliamentary committee: when you go to open an account in the bank, the bank managing directors are here; we have given them a set of requirements that they need to follow to open an account,” he said.
He added that the CBG moved quickly to investigate once the allegations surfaced. “When we heard about this issue, we rushed to the banks. That’s why when I went before the parliamentary committee, when they asked for the report, they wanted to give me an extended period. I said, If you want even Friday, I can submit the report, because then we already visited the banks, and we know what happened, and we were working on the report. We prepared the report, sent it to them, and gave them our technical advice and a view about what happened,” he noted.
Governor Saidy further disclosed that the Central Bank and FIU are now conducting a broader review of all commercial banks to ensure compliance and prevent similar lapses. “If we discover any of the banks that did a similar thing, we will take the appropriate action and penalize them,” he warned.
For More News And Analysis About Gambia Follow Africa-Press
