By: Fatou Krubally
The former Registrar General of Companies, Alieu Jallow, has told lawmakers that only 36 out of 131 properties linked to former President Yahya Jammeh were ever physically inspected by his office despite a High Court order adopting the full list for state recovery.
Testifying before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee on the Sale and Disposal of Assets Identified by the Janneh Commission on Wednesday, Jallow admitted that his taskforce was unable to verify most of the assets due to the sudden establishment of the Janneh Commission.
“The Attorney General’s Chambers submitted 131 properties. But we only visited 36. The Janneh Commission was formed and took over the process,” Jallow said.
He also acknowledged that although the list of properties had annexures, he never requested those documents, which were attached to the court order authorising the state to recover the assets.
“It was necessary absolutely necessary. But I didn’t ask for the annexures,” he admitted.
Lawmakers questioned how the state could carry out evictions and dispossessions without verifying what was on the ground. Jallow responded that evictions were carried out based on verbal orders from the Attorney General and not through any written instruction.
One such eviction, he recounted, occurred at the Kololi residence of Jammeh’s mother, where his team faced hostility and required paramilitary support.
Jallow said efforts were made to re-house some occupants in other state-owned properties, but conceded that the process lacked formal documentation. He also revealed that much of the inventory and reporting data were kept on his personal laptop and not submitted officially to the Janneh Commission.
“There was no duplicate file at the ministry. I kept the report on my laptop for internal reference,” he told the committee.
Members of the committee raised concern over the failure to enforce the court order in full, the lack of documentation, and poor coordination in the recovery of Jammeh’s assets.
The Janneh Commission, set up in 2017, was tasked with investigating Jammeh’s financial dealings and recommending asset recovery. The committee is now examining how those assets were identified, recovered, and disposed of.
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