By Ramatoulie Jawo
The National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Finance, Public Accounts, and Public Enterprises on Monday agreed to carry a closed-door session on the request of the Central Bank relating to the continuing petroleum merchandise saga.
The Central Bank of The Gambia appeared earlier than the committee to deal with points surrounding the 36,953.614 metric tons of petroleum merchandise, valued at $30 million, in query. The Bank’s administration requested that the listening to be held privately, citing issues over potential implications if the proceedings had been public.
Governor Buah Saidy reminded the committee of the delicate nature of the report, emphasizing {that a} public listening to might need unintended penalties. The Central Bank is anticipated to current findings from its investigation into the business banks concerned within the matter.
Before the listening to commenced, the Co-Chair of the Joint Committee, Alagie S. Darboe, knowledgeable journalists that the Central Bank had requested a personal testimony, excluding the media from the session.
“The committee has looked into the merits of the request, and therefore we agreed to consider the request for the proceeding to be off Camera, and we wish to apologise to the media if we had received the request early we would have notified the media, so we appealed base on the request and the merits attached, the meeting will be held off camera,” he stated.
It was later revealed that the request for a closed session had been made verbally by Governor Saidy somewhat than in writing.
The Central Bank had first appeared earlier than the committee on August 28, when Governor Saidy knowledgeable members that the Bank’s supervision division was investigating how three corporations, suspected of importing and promoting Russian gas in The Gambia with out paying taxes, had been capable of open accounts with business banks.
Journalists current on the National Assembly expressed frustration over the choice, noting that this was not the primary time the committee had closed hearings after initially saying them as public inquiries.
