A MAJOR CORRUPTION SCANDAL HITS THE NAWEC FINANCE DEPARTMENT!
Open Gambia received an audio voice recording in which the newly appointed Director of Finance, Cherno Omar Cham, and the Treasury Manager, Mr Babou Secka, caught up in an alleged corruption scandal by negotiating the inflated invoices that had already been issued to solicit a bribe from a NAWEC supplier.
WHAT SCANDAL CONTAINED IN THE AUDIO FILE?
From the audios Open Gambia received, we heard a telephone conversation between the Treasury manager, Mr Secka, negotiating the inflation of pre-existing invoices on behave of his Financial Director, Mr Cham, with a NAWEC Cabal Supplier representative from Divya Company LTD. The company has supplied water and electricity materials to NAWEC for many years.
The Company representative was heard expressing doubt about Mr Secka’s instructions and seeking reassurance that Mr Cham, the Financial Director, had given the instructions for altering and inflating the existing invoice. Mr Secka assured the Supplier that there wouldn’t be any problems. He instructed him to forward the altered invoice directly to Mr Cham, the financial director who would finalise the transaction.
In a separate telephone audio conversation, we heard the representative from Divya Company LTD, David, talking with Mr Cham, the Financial Director. He was seeking to verify if Mr Cham had given the instructions to Mr Secka for the inflations of pre-existing invoices and seeking reassurance that there wouldn’t be any problems because he had never done it before.
Mr Cham acknowledged giving Mr Secka the instructions and reassured David that there would not be any problems because he was NAWEC’s new Financial Director. He even promised to call the supplier representative after he closed work, mentioning that he had other payments for the supplier to be discussed.
In another separate telephone audio conversation heard by OG, the supplier representative David initiated the call to Secka after his discussions with Mr Cham, informing Mr Secka that he had called. Mr Cham confirmed that he had given the instructions to carry out the alterations and inflations of the invoices. Still, David was heard seeking assurance again from Mr Secka W.R.T. not getting into trouble by carrying out the instructions. Mr Secka assured him that no problem would come from it as all transactions end with the Financial Director, who had approval authority.
Open Gambia has verified the voices in the audios and confirmed that the voices heard are those of Mr Cham and Mr Secka, various NAWEC employees familiar with both alleged people.
Open Gambia is informed that the kickback Mr Cham and Secka were working on in altering and inflating invoices is alleged to amount to around D3.5 Million. The Divya company already had its purchase order to deliver its materials. The first purchase order amounts to 27 million, the second to 10 million, and the third to 7 million.
Open Gambia is aware that the NAWEC BOARD of Directors is aware of the scandal, but Mr Cham and Secka have not been suspended pending investigations. We hope the article will alert the State Own Enterprise Commission to intervene, ensuring the scandal is investigated judiciously and appropriate actions are taken.
Please read the article we published last month on
NAWEC STAFF CRY OUT ABOUT NEPOTISM AND POTENTIAL CORRUPTION IN HIRING THE PROCUREMENT MANAGER.
BACKGROUND TO THE COMING OF MR Cham as NAWEC Financial Director.
Early Last month, Open Gambia published an article by NAWEC staff alleging that the vacant senior procurement manager position had been formally advertised, and three people applied for it. Still, according to management, none of the three interviewees had the qualifications. Mr Cham, a former employee of BloomBank who NAWEC recently appointed as Director of Finance without advertising the positions, took the opportunity to bring in his former colleague, his best friend Mr Abubacarr Mboob, as Senior Procurement Manager even though Mr Mboob has no qualifications or experience relevant to heading this critical position. Mr Mboob was a Treasury manager with Bloomsbank.Three months ago, Mr Cham also handpicked and appointed Mr Babucarr Secka as executive ex-treasury manager (Eco Bank). NAWEC is also advertising the Budget Manager position, which will likely be offered to Mr Cham’s chosen candidate from the banking sector or someone closely related to him.
