Abdoulie J. Corr, the former acting director of the internal audit unit at the Banjul City Council (BCC), provided testimony before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI), exposing significant financial irregularities related to the launch of the NGO Rafela.
The scandalous revelations, which came on Tuesday, painted a troubling picture of financial mismanagement, improper funding practices, and questionable oversight within the council.
Corr, who served the BCC for 23 years in various roles, explained how the BCC allocated 215,000 dalasis to pre-finance the launch of Rafela, an initiative designed to empower elected women across Africa. However, Corr testified that he returned the funds to the BCC after discovering that Rafela lacked a formal memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the BCC -- a serious violation of financial protocol. He deemed the council's involvement improper and took immediate action to ensure transparency by returning the money.
"I couldn't allow such a misstep to continue," Corr told the commission. "Without the necessary MoU, it wasn't right for the BCC to be involved, so I returned the money."
The Rafela scandal is just one aspect of Corr's broader testimony, which highlighted ongoing financial mismanagement within the BCC. He described how the audit unit struggled to carry out its work due to repeated delays in receiving financial documents from the council's management. This obstructed the unit's ability to produce regular reports and led to challenges in tracking the council's financial activities.
Despite these barriers, Corr completed eight audit reports during his tenure, but he claimed that many of them went unaddressed due to interference from the BCC's senior management. He spoke specifically about former CEO Mustapha Batchilly's disregard for audit drafts, often ignoring them or failing to attend meetings where financial discrepancies were discussed.
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Corr's testimony also detailed other financial issues, including unretired funds and improper transactions that were not adequately recorded. He recounted an incident in 2019 where Batchilly pressured him to remove a 400,000 dalasis imprest for the mayor from the audit records. Corr resisted, choosing to keep the transaction in the audit trail despite pressure from the council's leadership.
"The integrity of the audit process was under constant attack," Corr said. "I had to fight to maintain transparency, even when management attempted to sweep things under the rug."
In addition to these issues, Corr revealed concerns about the company Kebba and Sons, which he believed was closely tied to the mayor's office. He claimed that nearly all purchases by the council were made through this company, raising red flags about potential corruption and conflicts of interest. Corr also shared how his signature was forged on a contract related to Kebba and Sons, further indicating the questionable practices within the council.
The commission, which is investigating the financial and administrative practices of local government councils between May 2018 and January 2023, also reviewed documents submitted by Jalika Manneh, a revenue collector at BCC. These included four cash books from the 2018-2019 periods. These were admitted into evidence, and Manneh is expected to return for additional testimony.
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