Office of the Director of Press & Public Relations Office of the President, State House, has rejected Mansa Sumareh, saying Mr Sumareh ceased being the Chief Driver of the Head ended November 2018.
In a statement the office said: “The attention of the public is hereby drawned to a news article published in the Standard newspaper on the Monday 2nd September 2019 that erroneously described one Mansa Sumareh as ‘‘the President’s driver’’.
The statement added that for the purpose of clarity and accuracy, Mansa Sumareh is neither the Chief Driver nor a driver of the president.
In the same development, the Police on Monday confirmed the arrest and detention of eight people in connection of assisting individuals to hold Gambian diplomatic passport.
Last week a diplomatic passport scandal saga hit the ministry of foreign affairs and three officials have been implicated in the scandal.
Saikou Sanneh and Ibrahim JS Sanneh, both protocol officers at the ministry of foreign affairs, were arrested and detained while Ousman Touray is at large.
Meanwhile on Monday, the police named another suspect as Mansa Sumareh a former driver at the Office of the President.
“On the 23rd August 2019, the Inspector General’s office opened an investigation into a case of diplomatic passport fraud involving three protocol officers of the ministry of foreign affairs namely Saikou Sanneh, Ibrahim JS Sanneh and Ousman Touray is currently at large,” Police spokesman Lamin Njie said.
According to him, during the process of investigation Mansa Sumareh was also arrested in relation to the same matter, adding that all the suspect are helping the police facilitate diplomatic passport for one Bakary Susso.
“In a similar development on the 24th August 2019 Malick Tunkara was arrested at the Airport in possession of a suspected fake diplomatic passport.
“Yankuba Susso, Amadou Touray, and Musa Njie were arrested for their involvement.
“On the 27th August 2019, Superintendent Banka Jatta and Chief Inspector Lang Tombong Sabally of the Gambia Immigration Department were invited for questioning.
“On the 30th August 2019 Michael T Ladipo a Nigerian national was also arrested in connection to the case. Meanwhile investigations continues.”