Former Janneh Commission Lead Counsel Clarifies Decision to Sell Jammeh’s Vehicles
By Fatou Sillah
Former lead counsel of the Janneh Commission, Amie Bensouda, on Thursday reappeared before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee investigating the sale and disposal of assets belonging to former President Yahya Jammeh.
In her testimony, Ms. Bensouda explained that the commission opted to sell Jammeh’s vehicles after discovering they were scattered across the country and rapidly deteriorating.
“As regards to vehicles, the registrar general did provide us a report dated 11th July 2017 called Initial Report of the Task Force Enforcing High Court Order Freezing Assets of the Former President, in which he had listed a kind of inventory of the vehicles and other assets,” she said.
She explained that the report identified the available assets and their respective locations. Subsequently, around August or September, the commission began conducting site visits to various locations, including the State House, the Futurelec Building, Kotu, Kanilai, and other areas.
According to her, the commission observed vehicles scattered across these sites—primarily luxury cars and buses—especially at the State House, Futurelec, and in Kanilai.
She further testified that the commission held discussions, including consultations with the Attorney General (AG). One of the challenges highlighted by the AG, she said, was the limited capacity within the relevant institutions to effectively manage the situation.
She noted that although the Registrar General had been assigned custody of all movable assets, that office was not equipped to handle such a large and complex mandate.
“It was agreed that, at some point, the commission would make an order. It would agree that the vehicles be sold,” she said.
She added that inventories provided by the Office of the President detailed vehicles at the State House. The commission then ordered the government to identify vehicles needed for official use, while the rest would be sold pending the outcome of its proceedings. These included vehicles believed to have been purchased with state funds.
“In any event, it was kind of done suo motu. The commission, on its own, decided that the situation had to be arrested. There was no point in having all these assets lying around all over the country and being cannibalized, and so the best approach would be to have all these movables sold and the money deposited into the commission’s account pending the outcome of the proceedings,” she explained.
Ms. Bensouda further stated that all vehicles were to be valued, with the commission’s secretary assigned to oversee the process.