Africa-Press – Gambia. Principal Magistrate Muhammed Krubally of Banjul on Thursday convicted Ebrima Ceesay, a project manager of Unique Children charity organisation.
Ceesay was the manager of the UK-based charity in The Gambia and was accused of defrauding D6,071,040 meant to build classrooms, administrative block, toilets and a football pitch in Gunjur.
He pleaded guilty to the charge of fraudulent disposal of trust property but denied stealing.
The sponsors paid over D7 million into an Ecobank account of which Ceesay was the sole signatory. Following suspension of the works, Yassir Mohammed, representing the sponsors wrote to lodge a complaint of fraud and the police serious crimes unit mounted an investigation.
“During the investigation it was confirmed that the accused was withdrawing monies from the said account from Ecobank without implementing the purpose for which the monies were sent for. The investigation revealed that since the monies were sent to the accused he has failed to provide the progressive report, financial statements which were the evidence of project implementation…
“During the confrontation at the serious crimes unit it was confirmed that out of the D7,650,000, the accused spent only D1,478,960 on the project. The remaining balance of D6,071,040 was diverted and converted to his own personal use,” the police prosecutor told the court.
In handing down judgement, Magistrate Krubally said Ceesay did not challenge the facts of the first count, convicted him accordingly and ordered for him to be remanded in custody.
Ceesay pleaded to be allowed bail saying he was working on scholarships for 150 students at the University of the Gambia and needed to interview them but the magistrate denied his application. The case continues.
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