Ex-leader leaves Gambia coffers empty

ECOWAS Senegalese troops hold their position near to the presidential palace in the Gambian capital Banjul, Sunday Jan. 22, 2017, one day after Gambia's defeated leader Yahya Jammeh left the country into exile.
ECOWAS Senegalese troops hold their position near to the presidential palace in the Gambian capital Banjul, Sunday Jan. 22, 2017, one day after Gambia's defeated leader Yahya Jammeh left the country into exile.

BANJUL, Gambia -- Exiled Gambian ruler Yahya Jammeh stole millions of dollars in his final weeks in power, plundering the country's state coffers and shipping luxury vehicles by cargo plane, a special adviser for the new president said Sunday.

Mai Ahmad Fatty, the special adviser to democratically elected President Adama Barrow, confirmed late Sunday that Jammeh made off with more than $11.4 million during a two-week period alone. That is only what officials have discovered so far after 51-year-old Jammeh and his family took an offer of exile after more than 22 years in power and departed late Saturday.

"The Gambia is in financial distress. The coffers are virtually empty. That is a state of fact," Fatty said. "It has been confirmed by technicians in the ministry of finance and the Central Bank of the Gambia."

Fatty also confirmed that a Chadian cargo plane had transported luxury goods out of the country on Jammeh's behalf in his final hours in power, including an unknown number of vehicles. Jammeh is now in Equatorial Guinea, which is not a state party to the International Criminal Court.

Fatty was speaking in the capital of Senegal, where Barrow took the oath of office on Thursday because of concerns for his safety. Fatty said Barrow "will return home as soon as possible."

A regional military force was working over the weekend to secure the West African nation, which is less than half the size and one-fourth the population of New Jersey.

Barrow, who defeated Jammeh in December elections, would begin forming a Cabinet and working with Gambia's national assembly to reverse the state of emergency Jammeh declared in his final days in power, said Halifa Sallah, spokesman for the coalition backing the new leader.

The president's official residence, State House, also needs to be cleared of any possible hazards before Barrow arrives, Sallah added.

A Section on 01/23/2017

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