By: Nicholas Bass
The Banjul High Court Monday granted a sum of D16 million bail bond to three staff members of Justice Ministry.
Justice Ebrima Jaiteh, the presiding judge granted the bail to the three staffers of Intellectual Property Registrar Trademark under the Ministry of Justice. The three men are accused of stealing D14,395,620 amongst other charges.
It would be recalled that Seedy Jammeh, Yusupha M.Cham and Matarr Sylva between the year 2018 and 2019 at Intellectual Property Registry Office in Banjul allegedly conspired to defraud and steal D14,395,620, being public funds collected as fees for trademark applications and renewal.
Jammeh, Cham and Sylva are also accused of economic crime and abuse of office whilst on a separate charge Jammeh and Sylva are facing official corruption and Sylva on separate charge is tried for forgery.
However, when the charge sheet was read and interpreted to the accused persons, they all denied the charges pressed against them.
At that point the state counsel M. Sarr informed the court that the prosecution [state] was not opposed to the bail of the accused, urging the court to impose stringent conditions to ensure the attendance of the accused persons to safeguard the integrity of the proceedings.
Defense counsel S. Sonko, representing the 1st and 3rd accused, Jammeh and Sylva disclosed that the accused persons were granted bail at the police level, arguing that at the time the accused did not default the bail condition.
Defense counsel Lamin J. Darboe representing the second accused, Cham strongly argues that bail is a constitutional right, pleading with the court to adopt reasonable and practical bail conditions that do not amount to an indirect denial of bail.
Mr. Darboe asked the court to divide the bail sum equitably among the accused persons, considering the joint nature of the charges.
In his ruling, the presiding Judge, stated that having listened to the submissions of both parties, having in mind the nature of the charges before him, adding that the charges are ‘’undoubtedly serious in nature’’.
Justice Jaiteh stated that the overriding consideration was to strike a proper balance between the right to liberty and the due process of law.
“In the circumstances, I am satisfied that this is an appropriate case in which the accused persons may be admitted to bail, subject to terms that ensure their continued appearance in court and their compliance with all procedural requirements, ’Justice Jaiteh said.
At that stage, he ordered that the accused persons be granted bail to the tune of D16million, adding that each ‘’shall’’ provide one Gambian surety who ‘’must’’ be a registered owner of a landed property within The Gambia with a verified value ‘’not less than D16M’’ amongst other orders.