Bensouda Ridicules Government’s White Paper, Dismisses Economic Crimes Allegations as Baseless

Written by: Seringe S.T. Touray

Talib Ahmed Bensouda has once again ridiculed the government’s White Paper on the Local Government Commission of Inquiry, describing its findings against him as baseless and questioning how alleged administrative shortcomings at his council could justify accusations of economic crimes.

Speaking to Peter Gomez on West Coast Radio, Bensouda challenged three issues raised in the White Paper: a D10,000 surcharge over money spent on a market exercise that was not in the council’s budget, alleged failures to conduct feasibility studies before launching the Mbalit waste management project, and an unbudgeted D13.1 million payment to the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA).

Bensouda explained that the government had denied duty-free clearance for KMC’s imported public works trucks, forcing the council to pay D13.1 million to the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), only for the same government to later cite the unbudgeted payment as grounds for allegations of financial wrongdoing.

Bensouda also criticised the reported D200 million spent on the commission, which he alleged was established to target him, only to produce what he called “bogus findings”.

“They know everything they’re doing is not based in law or evidence,” he said, alleging that officials rushed to publish the White Paper after the IEC announced nomination dates.

According to Bensouda, the thinking within government was: “Nominations is next week. This guy is a threat.”

He alleged that officials then decided to “create a white paper, throw it into the media, confuse the public” and attempt to derail his candidacy.