Anna Jatta, a revenue collector at the Brikama Area Council (BAC), Thursday admitted before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that he used council's funds in various instances for personal matters.
Madam Jatta appeared before a panel of commissioners, counsels and investigators of the inquiry to give evidence in her capacity as council employee, specifically a revenue collector.
With an advanced diploma in IMIS from Stratford College in 2001, the Lamin resident informed commissioners that she first worked for the Janjanbureh Area Council as a Secretary in 1999 and was transferred to the Brikama Area Council as a secretary attached to the office of the CEO in 2001.
She voluntarily retired in 2006 due to family issues and successfully reapplied to return to the Brikama Area Council in 2016. She was employed at the rates unit as a collector and posted at Lamin and Mandinaring village, before she was later transferred to the unit for trade license covering Brikama Suma Kunda jurisdiction. Collectors attached to the trade license unit collect revenue from shopkeepers.
Proceedings intensified and progressed to explain the modus operandi of her work. She explained that before embarking on the collections, she does assessment of the shops within her area and charges them ranging from D1000 to D15,000.
Reacting to a question with regard to how assessments were done, she said she goes to the shops and obtains the names and contacts of the shopkeepers, adding that the amount charged would depend on the size of the shop and the values of the goods.
She said since 2018 to date, she received only 2 cashbooks - one for licensing and the other was for rates. She brought the one for the licensing before the commissioners did not come with the one for rates.
Counsel Patrick Gomez therefore asked her why she did not bring it. "I don't know you will need it," she said. Nonetheless, she was asked by the Commission to bring the rates cashbook.
Her license cashbook, covering 2022 to date, and her written statement of 23 November 2023 were admitted into evidence.
The witness said she collects and keeps the money with her until Thursday when she goes to the bank to deposit her weekly collections
Madam Jatta testified that she doesn't do daily deposits of her collections but rather keeps the money until every Thursday to go deposit her weekly collections at the bank at the BAC account at either EcoBank or GT Bank. The Commission established that the witness collected D1,542,500 between April and July 2022.
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She was informed about the internal audit finding against her regarding her collections during this period, as BAC internal auditors highlighted that the witness did not deposit D29,000.
She accepted the finding against her, explaining: "It is true. At that time I was sick and I was supposed to do an operation. So my work schedule was not consistent. I sometimes stayed for a week or more without going to work," she said.
"So you decided to use the money for your operation?" Counsel Gomez asked. The witness affirmed.
Moreover, Madam Jatta relayed that she applied for a loan of D70,000 but was given D40,000 by the council. She did not sign any documents for the loan, except for the request letter she sent regarding the loan.
"Mrs Jatta, you know what you did was wrong. This is public funds and you were supposed to deposit it in the bank. You were not supposed to use it," Counsel Patrick Gomez later said .She admitted that she was aware.
Furthermore, Anna Jatta claimed that she deposited all the sums of monies she collected but was confronted by Counsel Gomez with the cashbook and the bank deposits to show that there were huge sums of money she did not deposit in the accounts of BAC. She later admitted as such.
