Millions of dollars have been reported missing from state coffers.ops entered the country to beef up safety.
Gambia President Adama Barrow’s special advisor Mai Ahmad Fatty made the shocking revelations on Sunday (January 22) as West African troops entered the country to beef up safety.
“Within the period of two weeks alone, nearly 500 million Dalasis (11.4 million USD / 10.6 million Euro) were withdrawn by the former president, the government of the former president.
“That’s a lot of money, considering that we spend about 200 million Dalasis on required expenditure relating to payment of civil service and so forth. That is a lot of money,” Fatty told journalists in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.
Longtime leader Yahya Jammeh lost a December 1 election to Barrow but refused to hand over power. He finally flew out of Banjul late on Saturday (January 21) as a regional military force was poised to remove him.
Barrow, speaking on Senegalese radio RFM on Sunday, said that upon initial inspection it appeared Jammeh had looted state resources.
“According to information we received, there is no money in the coffers. It’s what we have been told, but the day we actually take office we will clarify all of it,” Barrow said on the radio.
Fatty also said that a Chadian cargo plane had transported luxury goods out of the country on Jammeh’s behalf, in his final hours in power, including an unknown number of vehicles.
Barrow, who was sworn in as President in the Gambian embassy in Senegalese capital Dakar, sent troops to Gambia to ensure security before his return to take office.
Barrow’s spokesman on Sunday said a military aide would be sent on Monday to determine if security conditions permit the president’s return.
Fatty said the heads of security organisations had yet to declare loyalty to Barrow.
“It is absolutely imperative that peace, security, and stability of the country be fully secure. The political and security gridlock imposed upon us after our victory in the elections of first December 2016 continues to present formidable challenges at all levels and is of fundamental concern,” Fatty said.
“It is constitutional as well as conventional that when a new president comes in, heads of security organisations would owe him loyalty and would declare their loyalty. Like I indicated, we are yet to see that,” he added.
The regional military operation was first launched late on Thursday after Barrow was sworn in as president at Gambia’s embassy in Senegal, but it was halted hours later to give Jammeh one last chance to leave peacefully.
Yahay Jammeh leave Gambia for exile
His departure followed two days of negotiations led by Guinea President Alpha Conde and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, prompting speculation over what, if any, terms were agreed upon to convince him to step down.
“He wanted to stay in Gambia,” Barrow told radio station RFM in Senegal. “We said we couldn’t guarantee his security and said that he should leave.”
Barrow, who says he plans to establish a commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses by Jammeh’s regime, denied that the former ruler had been offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for leaving the country.
Critics have raised concerns over the wording of a statement issued by the United Nations, ECOWAS and the African Union that seemed to offer Jammeh comfortable guarantees for his future.