Former acting director of the internal audit unit at the Banjul City Council (BCC) Tuesday made mindboggling disclosures at the Local Government Commission of Inquiry, exposing significant financial irregularities related to the launch of the non-governmental organisation REFELA, which recently came to the Commission’s spotlight due to certain shady transactions.
The city council made certain payments to the organisation, which is linked to Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe, even though the organisation is not under the official council’s structure.
Abdoulie J. Corr’s revelations came on the heels of other testimonies that give a grim picture with regard to financial management and the handling of funds.
Funding of the Launching of REFELA
Mr Corr, who served the city council in various positions for 23 years, explained how the city council allocated D215,000 to pre-finance the launch of REFELA, an organisation formed to empower elected women across Africa.
He testified that he returned the funds to the BCC after discovering that REFELA lacked a formal memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the BCC — a serious violation of financial protocols. He said he termed the council’s involvement as improper and took immediate action to ensure transparency by returning the money.
“I couldn’t allow such a misstep to continue,” he testified. “Without the necessary MoU, it wasn’t right for the BCC to be involved, so I returned the money.”
Audit struggles to carry out functions
Aside the REFELA issue, he described how the audit unit struggled to carry out its work due to repeated delays in receiving required financial documents from the council management. This hindered the unit from being able to produce regular reports and led to challenges in tracking the council’s financial activities.
Despite these serious barriers, the former acting audit boss completed eight audit reports during his tenure. However, he told the commissioners 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.
Unretired funds & improper transactions
Mr Corr also made mention of unretired funds and transactions that were not adequately recorded. He recounted an incident in 2019 where Batchilly pressured him to remove a D400,000 imprestfor the mayor from the audit records. Corr claimed he resisted and chose 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,” he bemoaned as he faced lead counsel Patrick Gomez. “I had to fight to maintain transparency, even when management attempted to sweep things under the rug.”
Additionally, Mr Corr revealed concerns about the company Kebba and Sons, which he believed was closely connected 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. He also revealed that his signature was once forged on a contract related to Kebba and Sons.
