By Fatou Sillah
Fatou Drammeh, Assistant Secretary General of the Janneh Commission, has told the National Assembly’s Select Committee on the sale and disposal of former president Yahya Jammeh’s assets that she does not believe there was any conflict of interest when government staff and auction team members purchased vehicles and other items during the disposal process.
Testifying before lawmakers, Drammeh explained that at the time, no guidelines existed to prevent staff or auction team members from taking part in the sales.
“There was no policy, no procedure, like anything separating that. Like teams or this particular group of people should not or cannot buy, there were no such guidelines in place regarding who can buy and who cannot buy,” she said.
She acknowledged that some buyers included government officials and auction team members, but insisted their participation followed due process.
“To my knowledge, I don’t see any conflict that occurred from these particular people because, one, they were not the ones determining the prices; to my knowledge, what I can recall, they followed the due process as other buyers. The ones that they wanted, they also followed the same process, going to the accountant to pay as others were paying,” she added.
Drammeh also confirmed that Jah Oil Company was among the buyers and that the company acquired some vehicles. She testified that Jah Oil Company purchased a Mercedes-Benz MK14 that had a reserve price of 20,000 dalasis but was ultimately sold for 18,000 dalasis—below the reserve price.
“It is a Mercedes-Benz MK14. It was bought by the Jah Oil Company. The reserve price was 20,000, and then it was bought for 18. It was bought for below the reserve price,” she said.
She further explained that certain assets were sold under their reserve price due to poor condition and low demand.
“One thing I remember that the auctioneer was doing, if he wanted to sell anything below the reserve price, he would try not to go too low, and then, because, like I said, the condition was strong enough, also we do not want to leave anything behind; things behind like that would just be a loss because they were already scrapped,” she said.