Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – The National Assembly’s Special Select Committee probing the management of former President Yahya Jammeh’s seized assets descended into tension on Tuesday after the Registrar of Companies, Ms. Marie Therese Gomez, gave testimony riddled with hesitation, memory lapses, and repeated claims of uncertainty.
Appearing before the committee for the first time, Ms. Gomez struggled to provide clear answers, frustrating both members and counsel. When asked whether her office had supplied the Ministry of Justice with a list of Jammeh’s companies, she responded vaguely: “Maybe it may be from the office.”
The counsel pressed her further: “This is a yes or no question. Did the Registrar of Companies send this list?” But her reply remained unchanged: “I don’t know. Maybe the office did.”
At one point, visibly exasperated, counsel told her, “Madam Registrar, you are not answering the question. You are wasting the time of the committee.”
Tensions escalated further when counsel presented a High Court order, known as MOJ 5A, which placed 14 Jammeh-linked companies under state control. Ms. Gomez said she did not know if her office had ever seen the document: “I don’t know if my office ever saw that.”
Counsel challenged her: “But you are the Registrar of Companies. How could your office not know?”
Ms. Gomez explained that her role was limited to photocopying and filing documents rather than reviewing their content: “I did not read all the documents.” She also cited broader systemic failures, including a registry system that has been down for four years and archives damaged by leaking roofs, which she said placed critical records at risk.
Her explanations, however, failed to convince the committee. After nearly two hours of questioning, the chairperson delivered a stern directive:
“You requested time to prepare, and we gave it to you. What we have seen today is not satisfactory. You are to reappear before this committee, and when you return, we expect clarity.”
Rather than resolving lingering questions, Ms. Gomez’s testimony has deepened suspicion about how the Companies Registry managed Jammeh’s extensive corporate empire—and whether the opacity is due to incompetence or deliberate evasion.
