Former Gambian President Stole $11 Million Before Fleeing

The special advisor to the new Gambian president states that Yahya Jammeh stole millions of dollars in the final weeks of his presidency, plundering government funds and transferring his luxury vehicles abroad via a cargo plane. Yahya Jammeh, who held the presidency of Gambia until earlier this week, refused to step down after losing the December election, but left the country under international pressure and the arrival of military forces from West African countries. According to the Associated Press, Mai Ahmad Faty, special advisor to Adama Barrow, the new president of Gambia, who is currently in Dakar, Senegal's capital, said in a press conference on Sunday, January 23, that the president will soon return to the country. He confirmed that Yahya Jammeh stole $11.4 million in just two weeks. This is what has been discovered so far. Ahmad Faty added, 'Gambia has become financially impoverished. The state funds are empty. This is an evident reality. Experts in the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Gambia have confirmed this news.' The advisor to the new president of Gambia stated that a cargo plane from Chad took Yahya Jammeh's luxury items out of the country in the final hours of his presidency, among which were an unspecified number of vehicles. He added that airport authorities in Gambia have been instructed to prevent the exit of items belonging to Yahya Jammeh. Furthermore, it has been revealed that some of the former president's belongings remain in Equatorial Guinea, where Yahya Jammeh and his close allies have sought refuge. Equatorial Guinea is not a member of the International Criminal Court and its leader has the longest ruling tenure in Africa. Mr. Faty added that officials 'are sorry for this situation,' but it has become clear that significant damages have been left behind and the new government faces minimal financial resources to remedy the state funds situation. Yahya Jammeh initially accepted his defeat in the presidential election in December against Adama Barrow but later called for a re-election, which faced opposition from the international community. Mr. Jammeh had declared Gambia an Islamic Republic in recent years and had withdrawn the country from the Commonwealth and the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, the advisor to the new president of Gambia denied the issuance of a joint statement by the United Nations, the African Union, and the regional bloc of West Africa, which guaranteed some support for Jammeh, his family, and his associates, including assurance that their assets would not be seized. He stated that such a statement does not exist. The Associated Press reports that the mentioned statement indicates that Jammeh's exile is 'temporary' and that he retains the right to return to Gambia whenever he deems it appropriate. According to Reed Brody, an international human rights lawyer, although this statement provides maximum support for Jammeh, it will not include a pardon for him. He wrote in an email, 'Under international law, no one can be pardoned for specific crimes such as torture or systematic political killings.' Adama Barrow is forming a government and cooperating with the Gambian National Assembly to lift the state of emergency declared by Jammeh in the final days of his power. He has promised to annul many of Yahya Jammeh's actions and to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate human rights violations by Jammeh's regime. Human rights groups state that human rights violations in Gambia include arbitrary detentions, torture, and even the killing of opponents. Another report indicates that some of the 45,000 people who left Gambia during the crisis are now returning to the country. Gambia has a population of 1.9 million and is bordered by Senegal on three sides.