Gambia Participates Demand Government Transparency on the Disposal of Yahya Jammeh’s Forfeited Assets

Marr Nyang, Executive Director Gambia Participates

We have read the investigative report entitled “The assets of Gambia’s former dictator go for a song” published by The Republic on April 30, 2025. The findings point to matters of conflict of interest, lack of transparency, and alleged corruption involving authorities responsible for the management and disposal of Jammeh’s forfeited assets.

Before this investigative report by The Republic, the former Secretary of the Janneh Commission of Inquiry, filed a petition in 2018 alleging conflict of interest following the decision of the Government suspending the sale of Jammeh’s assets by the Commission. He was subsequently sacked for challenging the authority of his superiors. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) defended his sacking stating among other reasons that “…as Secretary to the Commission (similar to the position of Registrar of the court), has no legal standing to raise issues of potential conflicts of interest between the parties.”
What is worth noting is that the Ministry of Justice admitted on the same report that, there was an instance where potential conflict of interest surfaced at the Commission and they (MOJ) had to engage an external Lawyer to investigate the matter, the outcome of which is not reported to the public.

We also noted the Ministry of Justice’s o[icial response, dated May 5, 2025, to The Republic’s investigate report. The Ministry mentioned that “All the assets sold so far have been subjected to an audit by the National Audit OIice [NAO] whose report will be submitted to the National Assembly.” As of today May 6, 2025, we are not aware of any special audit conducted by the NAO on the management and disposal processes of Jammeh’s forfeited assets. There is no public record of any such audit from 2020 to date.
What we have come across is a disturbing finding by the NAO in its fiscal year end 2020 GoTG audit report (which is a general government account’s audit) regarding the sale of Jammeh’s forfeited assets.

The auditors noted that Treasury Receipts amounting to D706,306,614.07 were disclosed in the Financial Statements as proceeds received from the sale of assets by the Janneh Commission. The Auditors requested supporting documents regarding the sale of the assets by the Janneh Commission which includes: “bidding documents, advertisements made on the sale of the assets, valuation of the assets disposed, and by whom? appointment of auctioneers, [and] License of the Auctioneers.”
However, all the requested documents requested by the Auditor General were not provided as at the time of the report. Whether the failure to provide support documents by the responsible authorities/individuals to the Auditor General for audit is intentional or not, this matter remains unresolved.

Based on the report of the Republic and the statement issued by the Ministry of Justice, there are serious questions raised on the transparency and integrity of the process of disposing the forfeited assets of Yahya Jammeh. This has undermined public trust and confidence in the process. The reported conflict of interest that has been re-echoed by The Republic and government’s initial refusal to publish the names of the buyers citing “privacy” issues, left many questions unanswered.

Since 2019, the government has not provided the public and victims of Yahya Jammeh with su[icient information on how over D1 billion proceeds from the sale of Jammeh’s asset was spent. These are public assets seized as part of a process established to expose, rectify and curb the corrupt practices of the former President Jammeh, public servants and public institutions to ensure accountability. The disposal of the assets forfeited from that process must follow international and regionally recognized standards of transparency and probity.

Most importantly, the proceeds of the assets should directly benefit the victims who are impatiently waiting for their full compensation. This is in line with the GFAR Principle 5 which states that “where possible, and without prejudice to identified victims, stolen assets recovered from corrupt oIicials should benefit the people of the nations harmed by the underlying corrupt conduct.”

In conclusion, the government must not allow the process that governed the disposal of assets seized from Yaya Jammeh to be tainted by the lack of transparency, or shrouded in secrecy or mired by allegations of corrupt practices.
Lack of transparency of the asset disposal process by the Commission and the government itself would undermine the incredible work done by the Commission and government’s anti-corruption efforts.

Gambia Participates therefore calls on the government to take the following actions to address the unresolved matters surrounding the alleged corruption and lack of transparency in the management and disposal of Jammeh’s asset.

Actions to be taken

1. As an immediate action, MOJ should publish the list of all Jammeh’s assets forfeited, the disposed assets (including the disposal process, value of each disposed asset against their actual disposal amount, who the buyers of the assets are, total proceeds generated), and the state of the remaining forfeited assets and their values

2. The Ministry of Justice has already set a positive precedent using journalistic investigative report to further investigate and prosecute corruption. We call on the Ministry of Justice to follow this precedent and take the report of The Republic seriously.

3. In addition, MOJ should engage the NAO to conduct a special audit on the forfeiture, management and disposal of Jammeh’s asset and act on the recommendations.
4. The Finance and PublicAccounts Committee(FPAC)of the NationalAssembly must exercise immediate oversight and take accountability action.
   Gambia Participates