Exiled Gambian ruler Yahya Jammeh stole millions of dollars in his final weeks in power, plundering the state coffers and shipping out luxury vehicles by cargo plane, a special adviser for the new president has claimed.
At a press conference in the Senegalese capital, Barrow’s special adviser Mai Ahmad Fatty told journalists the president “will return home as soon as possible’.
Underscoring the challenges facing the new administration, Fatty alleged that Jammeh made off with more than US$11.4m (£9.18m) during a two-week period.
“The Gambia is in financial distress. The coffers are virtually empty. That is a state of fact,” Fatty said. “It has been confirmed by technicians in the ministry of finance and the Central Bank of the Gambia.”
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.
Fatty said officials at the Gambia airport had been ordered not to allow any of Jammeh’s belongings to leave. Separately, it appeared that some of his goods remained in Guinea, where Jammeh and his closest allies stopped on their flight into exile.
Fatty said officials “regret the situation”, but it appeared that the major damage had been done, leaving the new government with little recourse to recoup the funds.
[Culled from UK Guardian]
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