AMRC REPORT INDICTS JUSTICE PAUL, OTHERS Written by Pa Malick Faye & Alhagie Jobe Saturday, 02 July 2005 The National Assembly committee established to investigate into the activities of the Asset Management and Recovery Commission (AMRC), has ordered Justice MA Paul, former legal adviser of the corporation now High Court Judge, and S. Loum, operation manager, to pay back to the state the sum of D222,000. According to the report, which was circulated to members of the Assembly by the chairperson of the committee, Belinda Bidwell who is also the deputy speaker, the sum represents a balance payment of sales for a property valued at D922,000, by one Mr Bourgi which was received by the two men, but had never been reflected in the corporation’s records. The committee which was formed following an allegation at the Assembly by the Member for Upper Saloum, Hamat Bah, that the AMRC is defrauding the government in the sale of confiscated properties, said the whole setup at the AMRC represents “ kaleioscope of confusion, irregularities, under- valuation, retention of land for which compensation had already been given tax evasion and lying under oath.” In their investigations which included conducting interviews with Justice Paul, Momodou Lamin Gibba, former managing director of AMRC and his staff, AMRC’s contracted surveyor, the purchasers concerned, staff of Local Government departments and members of the general public, as well as field trips to the sites: the committee discovered that out of the US$200,000, then an equivalent of D2 million said to have been bought from the property, formerly belonging to SS Ceesay on Kairaba Avenue by one Mr Raslan, only D1.2 million was reflected in the records of the corporation. This it said, was confirmed by Mr Raslan who admitted paying D1.2 million to the corporation during an interview with the committee. The report disclosed that the committee also had interviews with some clients of the corporation: Messers Walid Bourgi, Hassan Zeitoum and Ahmed Zeitoum; and discovered that three men lied under oath as to the amounts they have sold their lands. It further discovered that the three undervalued the sale of their lands by 50 per cent to evade payment of the correct capital gains tax, thereby defrauding the State. The findings also revealed that Walid Bourgi, Hassan Zeitoum and Ahmed Zeitoum enjoyed certain privileges with the corporation which enable them to purchase lands that were never tendered -contrary to the rules of AMRC. They were also given huge lands as compensation commensurate to their original lands without any justifiable reasons. “The committee finds it difficult to understand why the operation manager never went to the field to ascertain the realities on the ground, but relied on the surveyor, resulting in differences on the sketch and ground plan,” the report outlined. The report further states that during the course of their investigations, the committee has also discovered that the surveyor has altered the plan given to the corporation by its former Land Commissioner Robin Coker from a triangular piece of land on the ground. The committee also found out that the whole operation of selling land was seemly carried out by the operations manager and the legal adviser who signed and counter-signed everything, even though there was an accountant and a financial manager in place. It also found out that the running of the institution was entirely in the hands of MA Paul and S. Loum and no proper receipts were issued as they depend on banks and letter receipts, amongst others. Meanwhile, the committee has recommended to the NIA, Immigration and Police not to allow the men indicted on the report to leave the country without clearance from them, as they intend to look into other AMRC sales which they may be involved. いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい