{"id":81382,"date":"2025-07-04T11:54:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal"},"modified":"2025-07-04T12:05:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:05:34","slug":"commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal","title":{"rendered":"Commission Finds Businessman Profited from BCC Land Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>At a public hearing on Thursday, the Local Government Commission of Inquiry revealed that businessman Chabell Elhajj earned millions of dalasis through a Banjul City Council (BCC) land transaction, without investing a single dalasi of his own.<\/b><\/p>\n

The commission learned that Elhajj sold a plot of land to EMK Stores, despite never having been officially allocated the property by BCC, nor having signed any formal agreement with the council regarding its lease.<\/p>\n

In his testimony on Wednesday, Elhajj admitted to leasing a parcel of land from BCC for D2 million, which he then sold to EMK Stores for approximately D15 million Dalasi. He testified that the D2 million lease payment was conveyed to him by Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe, and that this amount was subsequently provided to him by EMK Stores.<\/p>\n

Counsel Patrick Gomez confronted Elhajj: \u201cYou invested no dalasis in the sale price of this land, but you worked away with millions of dalasis. How did you do that?\u201dElhajj responded, \u201cMr. Gomez, what did you want me to tell you? This is business,\u201d He later added, \u201cOf course I invested. I went to see lawyers and agents. I was going out, so that is all the investment. Time, money, and fuel that came from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the financial aspect of the land transaction\u2014valued at GMD15 million between Mr. Elhajj and EMK Stores, and D2 million between Mr. Elhajj and the Banjul City Council (BCC)\u2014Mr. Chabell Elhajj stated that none of the funds originated from his personal resources.<\/p>\n

When asked about the profit he made from the deal, Mr. Elhajj responded that he would need to verify the figures. He claimed he did not make a net profit, citing expenses such as legal fees, stamp duties, and travel costs. Counsel Patrick Gomez, however, pointed out that all the funds he referenced were received from EMK Stores.<\/p>\n

Counsel Gomez further challenged Mr. Elhajj\u2019s claim to ownership, stating that he did not possess any land to sell in the first place. Mr. Elhajj replied that this was a matter of interpretation, but admitted he had no title documents\u2014only a letter from BCC.<\/p>\n

Counsel Gomez clarified that the letter from BCC, dated April 30, 2019, did not constitute an official allocation of land. Rather, it stated that the General Council had agreed to enable Mr. Elhajj to access a 100 by 100 plot, with a formal agreement to be prepared at a later stage. Gomez argued that this wording could merely authorize a site visit, not confer ownership.<\/p>\n

Mr. Elhajj initially insisted that the letter indicated the land had been allocated to him. However, upon reviewing the letter himself during the hearing, he conceded that no such allocation was explicitly mentioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is it, which means you don\u2019t have an allocation. You cannot claim ownership of what you don\u2019t have because if you had an allocation in your name, it would have been you transferring the property to EMK stores. You don\u2019t have evidence of allocation; that is why you wrote to BCC for them to do a direct transfer to EMK stores,\u201d Counsel Gomez put to him. Counsel Gomez further asserted,\u201cSo no agreement, no transfer, yet you people interpret it to mean that you had a transfer and based on that you sold to EMK stores.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Mr. Elhajj claimed the matter was one of interpretation. Counsel reminded him that the burden of proof rests with him, stating that it is his responsibility to convince the commissioners.<\/p>\n

As requested by the commission, Elhajj submitted a list of payments received from EMK Stores totaling D10.8 million Dalasi. Some of the documented payments presented during the hearing include:<\/p>\n

May 20, 2019: D2.5 million<\/p>\n

May 20, 2019: D2.5 million<\/p>\n

May 21, 2019: D1 million<\/p>\n

January 26, 2021: D500,000<\/p>\n

January 27, 2021: D500,000<\/p>\n

February 10, 2021: D500,000<\/p>\n

Additionally, Elhajj presented a receipt for D1.3 million Dalasi with an undated record. These receipts were admitted as exhibits by the commission, which indicated plans to verify payment records with EMK Stores.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. At a public hearing on Thursday, the Local Government Commission of Inquiry revealed that businessman Chabell Elhajj earned millions of dalasis through a Banjul City Council (BCC) land transaction, without investing a single dalasi of his own. The commission learned that Elhajj sold a plot of land to EMK Stores, despite never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":81381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-81382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nCommission Finds Businessman Profited from BCC Land Deal - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At a public hearing on Thursday, the Local Government Commission of Inquiry revealed that businessman Chabell Elhajj ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commission Finds Businessman Profited from BCC Land Deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At a public hearing on Thursday, the Local Government Commission of Inquiry revealed that businessman Chabell Elhajj ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-04T11:54:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-04T12:05:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/07\/sm_1751618008.548716.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Commission Finds Businessman Profited from BCC Land Deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-04T11:54:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-04T12:05:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/07\/sm_1751618008.548716.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/commission-finds-businessman-profited-from-bcc-land-deal\",\"name\":\"Commission Finds Businessman Profited from BCC Land Deal - 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