He began working in the Council in 2005. He said the appointment letter that was given to him is missing, but promised to get it from the Council to provide the Commission.
The written statement of the witness dated 22nd November 2023 was admitted in evidence. He testified that he is a rates and taxes collector. Four (4) cash books of the witness covering 2017/2018, 2018/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 were tendered and admitted in evidence.
From the 1st April 2022 to the 7th June 2022, the witness collected a total D346,700 and from the amount, he was found to have suppressed D3000. The witness said he was never informed about it and nobody wrote to him regarding the suppressed amount. He added that he came to know about it when he appeared before the investigators of the Commission.
“It came to me as a surprise,” the witness said.
The witness was given a D17,025 receipt by the Principal Cashier on the 10th February 2021. There was no bank slip. The witness admitted that he did not pay the money in the bank. Instead, he paid to the Principal Cashier of the Council.
He was also asked about his recordings for December 2021. The witness was seen flipping pages of his cash book. He was asked to take his time to search for it. Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez helped the witness and showed him the transaction for 23rd December 2021. The witness collected D11,600 but the bank slip indicated that he deposited D3970.
“Why the difference?” Counsel Gomez asked.
“Hehe,” the witness said and kept silent.
“Yes, Mr Bojang,” Counsel Gomez said.
The witness was still silent.
“Mr Bojang, we want to know what happened to the money?” Gomez asked.
“I cannot tell,” the witness said.
“Mr Bojang,” Counsel Gomez said.
“I don’t know how it came about,” the witness said.
“You deposited less than what you collected,” Gomez said.
“Yes, but I don’t know how it happened,” the witness said.
On the 4th October 2021, the witness collected D2480 but there is no bank payment slip and it was not traced in the bank.
“For this I cannot explain,” the witness said.
“What do you think is the issue here,” Lead Counsel Gomez asked.
The witness looked for the deposit from the bank and could not trace it on the said. Lead Counsel Gomez discovered that the receipt date was 4th October 2021 while the collections were made on the 27th October 2021. The witness accepted and said he does not have an explanation.
On the 13th December 2022, the witness collected D10,000 and he was issued a receipt by the Principal Cashier. The witness paid D2825.
The witness admitted that there were times he did not go for the weekly auditing and reconciliation. He mentioned that these were times when he went to the internal audit unit of the Council and found no one there. He was to account for the collections during that period.
“We have several instances that you were absent [from the weekly audit and reconciliation exercise]. The records show that you were absent,” Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness.
16th to 22nd June 2022 – the witness collected D10,275, but the money was not traced in the account. He was asked to account for it. After checking from the bank statement of the Brikama Area Council, Vista Bank to be specific, the witness admitted that the money was not in the account. He had earlier testified that the collection was in the account. The witness could not account for it. When asked to provide an explanation as to what happened to the money, he said: “For this, I cannot tell. I cannot explain.”
He added: “It is not there [meaning – the collection is not in the statement of account]
“Why is it not there?” Counsel Gomez asked.
“For this, I cannot explain,” the witness said.
Chairperson Jainaba Bah informed the witness that they have noted from his cash book that there were inconsistencies regarding the dates. She stated that the dates on the GTR receipts were different from the dates on the deposit slips. She asked the witness why he allowed the junior staff to do the recordings in the cash book when he was the person doing the collection in the field.
“The recording is sometimes done by my junior staff,” the witness said.
“This is why we appreciate the honesty because we have seen a lot of inconsistencies. You are finding it very difficult to refer us to the cash book. If you were the one doing the entries, it would have been very easy. That is what we have noticed. The other thing we have noticed is that the receipts and the deposit slips have so much in consistencies. You will receipts date this day and the bank deposit will be dated on this day – which will not tally with the time period covered in terms of collecting the revenue,” Chairperson Jainaba Bah told the witness.
On the 23rd December 2021 – the witness collected D11,600. The witness checked from the Vista Bank account of the Brikama Area Council for the month of December 2021. He testified that he did not deposit the money in the account. He was discharged and he will come back on another day. The Commission allowed him, based on his request, to go back to the Council and the bank (Vista Bank) to check. He will appear on Tuesday, 30 July 2024.
