Africa-Press – Gambia. The former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, appeared on Monday before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee investigating the sale and disposal of assets belonging to former President Yahya Jammeh.
Testifying before lawmakers, Tambedou explained that Jammeh’s assets were frozen under the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, not through a substantive court suit.
“There was no substantive suit before the court. We submitted our application under the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Act,” he told the committee.
According to Tambadou, the decision was prompted by persistent reports that Jammeh’s properties, funds, and other assets were being dissipated. He said the freezing order was necessary to safeguard the assets until investigations and legal processes could be completed.
“The former president whose assets were being preserved at that time was treated with as much fairness as we could have provided under the circumstances,” he said.
Tambadou testified that intelligence indicated some assets had already been stolen prior to the order. To prevent further losses, the freezing plan was kept confidential and shared only with a small group of officials, including Augustus Prom and select members of the civil litigation department. He explained that any premature disclosure could have led to further dissipation of the assets.
The former minister also detailed how the government carefully distributed responsibility for managing the assets among various agencies. For example, the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency was tasked with overseeing cattle, the Department of Wildlife assumed responsibility for animals in Kanilai—including crocodiles and hyenas—and companies linked to Jammeh were placed under receivership under Augustus Prom.
Tambedou noted that multiple meetings were held to ensure agencies had the technical expertise to manage the assets properly.
“We did not just want to get up and go to the court and freeze the assets and then realize the ministry didn’t have the expertise to deal with cattle or wildlife sectors; that is why we considered all of these different government departments and entrusted responsibility to them,” he said.
He further clarified that the Attorney General acted on behalf of the government under the State Proceedings Act, stressing that the freezing order was a state initiative, not a personal undertaking. After the High Court granted the order, the Ministry of Justice organized stakeholder meetings to coordinate the management of Jammeh’s assets.
Tambadou concluded that the process was carried out with transparency and fairness, emphasizing that the objective was to protect both public and private property pending the outcome of investigations and legal determinations.
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