Fourteen former staff of Kairaba Beach Hotel were yesterday arraigned before the Special Criminal Court in Banjul, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Nkea on 14 counts of theft charges. The accused persons are Suntu Gibba, Abdoulie Camara, Lamin Barrow, Ebrima K. Ceesay, Malang Bojang, Pa Ali Sarr, Matarr Nicole, Ousman Mbowe, Momodou S. Jallow, Peter Jarjue, Kora Jassey, Masireng Sanyang, Fatou Banja and Alieu Cham.

The prosecution led by senior state counsel A.D Bwala called the sixth prosecution witness, Donald C. Kay, a chartered accountant with the PKF Accounting Company to testify before the court. The witness adduced that sometime in 2004 and 2005, Kairaba Beach Hotel requested PKF to carryout an investigation into alleged malpractices in the front office of the hotel, cash collection and in the banking.

Kay explained that at the conclusion of their work, a report was issued stating their findings, approach to the exercise, the difficulty in carrying out the exercise, total amount unaccounted for and the list of staff who were responsible for the malpractices. Kaye said the report also gave a breakdown of the year involved or concerned. The witness further said that in producing the report, PKF accounting company considered the information from the Fidelio system in the hotel. The witness said the report was generated from a fully functional computer.

At this junction, defence counsel Borry Touray informed the court that he was seeing the said PKF report conducted on Kairaba Beach Hotel, for the first time. The presiding Judge, Justice Nkea then adjourned the matter to the 8th May 2012 to enable defence counsel Borry Touray get a copy of the said report and have a look at the said document. Meanwhile, the Judge ordered the state to serve the defence counsel all the documents it intends to use, including the said PKF report.