Two Gambian banks, Eco Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank, have sent up Aisha Fatty’s banking information to the High Court of the Gambia per an order from Hon. Justice Ebrima Jaiteh.
The first defendant, Aisha Fatty, was ordered by Justice Jaiteh to present her bank statements on May 8, 2024, from Eco Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank.
This order was issued after the legal team representing Abdoulaye Thiam requested that the court order the banks to furnish particular account statements.
The legal representatives of Thiam filed a motion on May 2, 2024, asking the court to compel Eco Bank Gambia Ltd’s Managing Director to provide Aisha Fatty with the statements of her accounts, including the ones associated with the 624******* and 624****** accounts that are currently being attached by the court. They went on and asked Guaranty Trust Bank for the same kind of statements.
The court was given Aisha Fatty’s bank statement on June 9, 2024, by GT Bank’s Legal Officer, Eric Samuel Ketter.
“We have the account statement ordered by the court,” stated Counsel Eric Samuel Ketter.
For the purpose of verification, copies of the statements were provided to the legal teams of both Abdoulaye Thiam and Aisha Fatty.
The lead counsel for Abdoulaye Thiam, Lamin A. Ceesay, verified that they were satisfied with the GT Bank bank statements after studying them and said that everything was in order.
Hon. Justice Jaiteh brought up the fact that Eco Bank had sent a letter to the assistant registrar detailing two accounts—one in Dalasi and one in Euro—in relation to Aisha Fatty’s statements from the bank.
Legal representative Lamin A. Ceesay pleaded with the judge to admit the papers presented by Abdoulaye Thiam’s team as evidence.
Kaddijatou Jallow, Aisha Fatty’s lead counsel, raised an objection to the admissibility of her client’s GT Bank and Eco Bank bank statements.
Counsel K. Jallow fiercely objected to the documents if their admission was being considered by the court.
Unfortunately, Counsel K. Jallow was unable to argue that the bank statements should be admitted before Hon. Justice Jaiteh.
The Hon. Justice Jaiteh made it clear that he would not consider the banks’ arguments over the documents they presented.
The plaintiff’s lawyers aren’t the ones submitting the paperwork; the banks are. The evidence would be vulnerable to cross-examination if it originated from the bar. The Hon. Justice Jaiteh informed Aisha Fatty’s lead counsel, K. Jallow, that the banks had submitted the papers to the court and that he would not hear arguments over them.
Exhibit P12, pages 1–288 contains Aisha Fatty’s Guaranty Trust Bank bank statements spanning from October 22, 2013, to May 30, 2024, which Justice Jaiteh entered into evidence.
The statements from Eco Bank pertaining to the Metro Hair business and the Euro account were also accepted into evidence by him; they were marked as exhibit P13 (a). September 15, 2021–April 30, 2024 is the time frame covered by the Euro account data.
Additionally, Justice Jaiteh accepted as exhibit P13 (b) the Dalasi account details from Eco Bank spanning the dates of March 21, 2019, to May 18, 2024.
The next scheduled date for the case’s continuance is July 17, 2024.