The economic crime case involving Dr. Badara Loum and Suruwa Jaiteh, both former permanent secretaries at the Ministry of Agriculture proceeded on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, before Justice Joseph Wowo of the High Court in Banjul.

The accused persons, Dr Badara Loum as PS and Suruwa Jaiteh as accounting officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, are alleged to have been entrusted with the responsibility of distributing and selling 4775 metric tonnes of NPK and 2229 metric tonnes of urea fertilizer, valued at D51,480,100 and to have wilfully, by omission or recklessly handled the same and caused the loss of D1.47, 251 to the economy of The Gambia.

Testifying before the court, Alieu Saine, the store officer told the court that in May 2005 the Department of Agriculture was received a consignment of fertilizers. He said some employers went to the seaport on the instruction of the 1st accused and after they cleared the whole consignment, they stored the consignment in the stores.

The witness said when they were discharging the consignment, it was discovered that 14 bags were bad. The witness said during the course of distributing the ferlilizers, they encountered some difficulties. He revealed that the storage facilities were not adequate, and both stores had leakages.

He further revealed that they never discovered the leakage earlier because the stores were filled with the ferlilizers. He said efforts were made to repair the stores during the distribution, but he noted that it would have been better if the stores were checked and repairs made before the arrival of the fertilizers.

The witness revealed that he did he recording of all the distribution in a ledger. At this stage, the defence lawyers, Lamin Camara and Sheriff Tambedou informed the court that they needed time to study the evidence of the witness and the ledger before cross examining him.

The matter was adjourned to October 12 2009 for continuation.