By Fatou Krubally
The former Sheriff of the High Court, Justice Sheriff B. Tabally, has admitted to the Special Select Committee that his office failed to comply with a High Court order requiring a valuation of livestock assets before their sale, in a case tied to the disposal of assets identified by the Janneh Commission.
Testifying before the committee on Thursday, Justice Tabally confirmed that his office did not conduct the court-mandated valuation exercise, nor did it coordinate with the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency (GLMA) as explicitly directed by the court in its ruling dated 3 January 2018.
“There was no valuation conducted by the Sheriff… I accept responsibility for that,” he said under questioning, acknowledging that the Sheriff’s Office failed to carry out Paragraph 4 of the court’s order, which required the GLMA to assist the Sheriff in valuing the livestock before the sale.
He added that at the time, “Mr. Ayodejalo [former Registrar General] had indicated that he had contacted them,” referring to the agency. However, he conceded it was an oversight not to follow up formally, calling the lapse “an anomaly.”
Justice Tabally further revealed that he was away from the office for personal reasons when the order was issued and endorsed the execution over the phone, without reading the contents. “I was merely informed by telephone,” he said. “I endorsed that… Yes, I take responsibility for my actions.”
The court order in question instructed the Sheriff to sell the livestock and deposit the proceeds in an interest-bearing account, pending the outcome of the Janneh Commission or further direction from the court. However, the Sheriff’s Office did not conduct the required valuation before the sale and did not notify the former president, the judgment debtor, of the pending sales, a decision Tabally defended on grounds of urgency and asset preservation.
“This is a very exceptional case,” he said, adding that it was the first time during his tenure that the Sheriff’s Office had dealt with livestock.
Members of the committee expressed concern over the lack of due process, with one noting: “The court was very definitive in its order.”
Justice Tabally admitted that his office lacked both the capacity and expertise to handle such sales, but acknowledged that the failure to notify the court of this limitation was also a misstep.