Ebrima,
I have only one question to this. Why is the President not pursing a legal
action against these allegations as he did with the Independent News Paper?
The Struggle Continues!!!
Ndey Jobarteh
-----Original Message-----
From: ebrima ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 13 January 2000 14:16
Subject: "Crude Oil Saga Intensifies"
>Gambia L,
>
>The piece, which is reproduced below, is culled from today's issue of the
>Daily Observer newspaper, and I thought it would be useful to forward it to
>the L.
>
>By the way, I must, first of all, point out that in the UK, there are so
>many so called, or should I say, bogus European experts in Gambian Affairs,
>but, at the same time, you do have some good ones.
>
>And Patrick Smith of Africa Confidential, in my view, is one of the well
>informed ones as far as the Gambia is concerned.
>
>Most of the time - mark you I am not saying ALL THE TIME - his information
>vis-a-vis the Gambia is always reliable, current and accurate.
Consequently,
>I, for one, would take his information on the Gambia very, very seriously.
>
>Ebrima Ceesay
>Birmingham, UK.
>
>
>
>CRUDE OIL SAGA INTENSIFIES (Reprinted from the Daily Observer)
>
>The controversy surrounding the crude oil deal, which has been subject of
>debate in the country for the past two weeks intensified last evening.
>
>Yesterday evening, Patrick Smith of Africa Confidential newsletter told the
>BBC that 2 to 3 million US dollars per year may have accrued from the sale
>of crude oil given to The Gambia by the Nigerian government between 1996
and
>1998.
>
>Mr Smith, who claimed to have mounted an investigation in
>respect of the alleged crude oil transaction involving The Gambia,
>was speaking on in an interview with the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
>
>Explaining how the crude oil deal between The Gambia and Nigeria
>was reached, Mr Smith alleged that The Gambia was supposed to
>receive 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Nigeria. According to him,
>during the Commonwealth Summit in 1995, The Gambia was
>the only country that voted in favour of General Abacha after the
>hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa. The Gambian head of state voted for the lifting
>of sanctions on Nigeria.
>
>He claimed that this led to the warming of relations between the
>late Abacha, and President Jammeh. He said a year later, an oil
>deal was reached in which General Abacha asked the Nigerian
>National Petroleum Company to give 20,000 barrels of crude oil a
>day to The Gambia. He said the crude oil deal lasted from August
>1996 to June 1998 when Abacha died. He pointed out that what
>was not clear was "whether the money accrued from the crude oil
>was to the Gambia government or to an individual Gambian. He
>alleged that the money was remitted into a private swiss bank account.
>
>Mr Smith said Kemeseng Jammeh, the minority opposition leader in
>May asked a parliamentary question to Dominic Mendy, the then
>Finance Secretary about the crude oil deal and "Mendy denied
>point blank that there have been any such arrangement until we
>later discovered that Mendy's name was on a letter which gave
>power of attorney to Muhammed Jawara, the then deputy chief of
>Protocol in President's Jammeh's office, to approve a deal with a
>Swiss oil trading company on behalf of the Gambia government,' he
>said.
>
>He said Chantrils Commercial SA (CCSA) sued the Gambia
>government for breach of contract and that the court ruled in
>favour of CCSA awarding them over US $600,000 dollars.
>
>Ousainou Darboe, leader of the UDP during his new year message
>alleged that President Jammeh diverted over US $1.9 million of the
>crude oil proceeds into his personal use and that the crude oil
>funds were remitted into a Swiss bank account numbered J36650-7C.
>
>However, during his annual Koriteh meeting with religious leaders
>at State House, President Jammeh emphatically denied involvement
>in any illegal self-enriching crude oil deal. He described the
>allegations as fallacious.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>______________________________________________________
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>
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