Only D1M recovered from the D27M ‘misused’ funds flagged by auditor general in 2023 – Finance Minister

Finance Minister Seedy Keita yesterday told lawmakers that government has  so  far recovered only D1 million from the D27,507,510 that the auditor general’s report found to have been misused in the 2023 audit of government accounts and financial statements.

Minister Keita made this revelation in response to a question from Janjanbureh NAM Omar  Jammeh who asked for clarifications on the amount of public funds identified as misused in the auditor general’s report for 2023 and 2024.

In his response, the minister stated that the total amount of public funds identified as misused in the 2023 audited reports amounted to D27, 507, 510 out of which an amount of D1, 41, 060 has been recovered.

In the 2024 audit report, he disclosed that total fraud cases amounted to D72, 458, 141. The minister however did not publicly disclose how much was recovered from this amount saying it is available in documents he submitted to the Assembly.

But NAM Jammeh was dissatisfied with the minister’s response arguing that answers to oral questions should be given in full, not references.

The minister however pointed out that some of these cases are either at investigations or litigation stages and that the recovery of those under litigation rests with the courts.

He was also asked to provide the Assembly with evidence of the said recovery including deposits, receipts and treasury records. “We will work with the team to make these documents available to the Assembly,” he pledged.