{"id":86291,"date":"2025-09-19T17:09:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T17:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict"},"modified":"2025-09-19T18:51:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:51:32","slug":"former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict","title":{"rendered":"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s decision to step aside from handling matters related to the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) during the commission of inquiry into former president Yahya Jammeh\u2019s assets.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Testifying before the National Assembly\u2019s Special Select Committee probing the sale and disposal of Jammeh\u2019s assets, Tambadou said Bensouda acted properly when she disclosed a potential conflict of interest arising from her past role as legal representative of SSHFC, one of the state-owned enterprises under investigation.<\/p>\n<p>According to Tambadou, Bensouda formally informed him of the situation, prompting him to appoint Mustapha Batchilly to take over all SSHFC-related matters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe disclosed the conflict and advised that I appoint a replacement, which I did by bringing in Mr. Mustapha Batchilly to handle matters related to social security,\u201d Tambadou told the committee.<\/p>\n<p>Committee counsel, Mr. Dibba, pressed Tambadou on whether the conflict should have been identified at the time of Bensouda\u2019s appointment rather than during the hearings.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Tambadou noted that conflicts of interest are not always foreseeable at the outset of legal proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome conflicts you can foresee; others occur during the work. The key is to manage them appropriately when they arise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Counsel Dibba also questioned why Bensouda reported the conflict to the Attorney General instead of directly to the commission. Tambadou replied that, as the appointing authority, he was the proper channel for addressing such issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was proper for lead counsel Bensouda to come to me and declare the potential conflict so I could appoint a replacement and protect the integrity of the commission,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>The former AG emphasized that Bensouda\u2019s temporary recusal was both professional and necessary to safeguard the independence, transparency, and accountability of the commission.<\/p>\n<p>He added that managing conflicts of interest is a routine part of overseeing commissions of inquiry, stressing that Bensouda acted responsibly by raising the matter early enough to avoid compromising the commission\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p>However, Counsel Dibba maintained that the potential conflict should have been disclosed before Bensouda began her role as lead counsel, to prevent any perception of compromised independence from the outset.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s decision to step aside from handling matters related to the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) during the commission of inquiry into former president Yahya Jammeh\u2019s assets. Testifying before the National Assembly\u2019s Special Select Committee [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":86289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-86291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s dec ...\" \/>\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\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s dec ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict\" \/>\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=\"2025-09-19T17:09:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-19T18:51:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.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=\"2 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\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-19T17:09:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-19T18:51:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict\"},\"wordCount\":389,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict\",\"name\":\"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-19T17:09:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-19T18:51:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s dec ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict - Gambia","description":"Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s dec ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict","og_description":"Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s dec ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-09-19T17:09:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-19T18:51:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict","datePublished":"2025-09-19T17:09:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-19T18:51:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict"},"wordCount":389,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg","keywords":["Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict","name":"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-19T17:09:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-19T18:51:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr M. Tambadou, has defended lead counsel Amie Bensouda\u2019s dec ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1758295260.662364.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-ag-defends-amie-bensoudas-recusal-over-sshfc-conflict#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former AG Defends Amie Bensouda\u2019S Recusal over SSHFC Conflict"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}