By Mama A. Touray
Internal Audit Director at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Cherno Amadou has disclosed to the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that the Chief Executive Officer of Basse Area Council, Ousman Touray, and his Director of Finance Lamin Suso took loans from Banks without approval from the council.
The witness said “CEO Ousman Touray and Finance Director Lamin Suso took loans from banks without the approval of the council. The loans were taken from various banks. Council was aware of the D15,000,000 and the D5,000,000, but there is no evidence that the Ministry authorized it. The Public Finance Act gave the Minister of Finance to approve loans to councils”.
He further told the Commission that another D11 Million Loan was taken but the Council was not aware of it. He said it was done verbally, adding that the CEO and Finance Director went to the banks and there was no documentary evidence for those loans.
He stated that the loans taken were made verbally with the commitment that the council will be depositing their funds in their bank.
The witness also told the Commission that the Auditors could not establish how D26,894,000 loans taken by the Basse Area Council from various banks were spent and could not account for it.
Director Sowe, however, gave a breakdown of the loans taken by the Basse Area Council “One Million Six Hundred Thousand Dalasi and Eight Hundred Thousand from Trust Bank which was obtained verbally. One Million Dalasi, Four Hundred and Fifteen Thousand Dalasi, Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dalasi, and Eight Hundred, Two Hundred and Ten Thousand Dalasi and Fifty Thousand all from AGIB Bank also obtained through verbal arrangements on different dates, eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dalasi and Ten Million Dalasi from Supersonicz”.
He went further that the council was aware of the Ten Million Dalasi loan and Five Million Dalasi loan from Vista Bank.
Sowe told the Commission that another loan was taken from Vista Bank worth Four Million Dalasi without council authority and Four Hundred Thousand was taken from Reliance.
The Director of Internal Audit said the practice by the Director of Finance and CEO is a violation of the Local Government Act and that definitely it is not how to run an organisation.
“Two individuals should not have such powers. This is not really good practice. They are not following what is in their financial manual,” he said.
“The finance and account manual is a guide on how finances are managed, guides the conduct of officials running the conduct of the institution. If you don’t have a manual, it means you are free to do whatever you want. With a manual, it dictates the conduct of the officials running that institution. If you have it you should follow it. But without it, there is a risk of fraud,” he explained.
Sowe said the audit team has not been able to establish how those funds were spent and that both the CEO and the Director of Finance were taking loans from one bank and paying their loans in another Bank and that is what they have been surviving on.