16 September | By Sainey Darboe
The leader of Gambia Action Party (GAP), Musa Yali Batchilly, had received D5M and a car from a US-based woman in exchange for a compound which he failed to deliver.
In a report published by The Point newspaper, the aggrieved party Fatoumata Boye told the court that she had entered into a written agreement with the accused on the expectation that she would get the original documents to the property on February 6th, which was not honored.
Boye told the court that she later discovered the property in question was not owned by the GAP leader, which prompted her to try getting her money back but he blocked her number.
“When I came to know that the accused does not own the property, I called him while I was in the U.S., and he told me that even if I came to The Gambia I would search for him for one year and I would not see him. He blocked my number. That’s why I reported him to the police”.
Defense counsel Kijera at this point put it to Mrs. Boye the action she took constituted a public embarrassment for his client while describing her financial claim as a “token”.
But the complainant wouldn’t take the comment without a vigorous riposte despite the solemn setting of a court room, saying:
“If my money is a token, it has been with the accused for a year and he cannot give it back to me. It is not a token to me because I worked for it for years”.
Batchilly is expected to face more damning revelations when the case comes up again on October 6th, 2020.