Ex-Justice minister implicated in NA Select Committee hearing
In a dramatic testimony before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee on the Sale and Disposal of Assets Identified by the Janneh Commission, Mr Louis Prom, Advisory Partner at Augustus Prom Firm, revealed a storm of financial and legal claims that engulfed his firm after it was appointed receiver for companies linked to former President Yahya Jammeh particularly Kanilai Group International (KGI) and Kanilai Family Farms (KFF).
“Now that the former president is not here, everybody is brave. Go and see Prom. Tell Prom to pay you,” Prom remarked, describing the deluge of claims against the once-dominant business entities as opportunistic and overwhelming.
His testimony, marked by legal drama and institutional finger-pointing, offered a rare glimpse into the post-Jammeh landscape, where frozen assets, multimillion-dollar debts, and mounting lawsuits have created a bureaucratic minefield for state-appointed receivers.
Prom disclosed that claims began surfacing almost immediately after Augustus Prom Firm assumed receivership in June 2017. These, he said, included a D53 million claim from NAWEC, 10 million dalasis plus interest from the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation, over 75 million dalasis in tax arrears owed to the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA).
“There was basically a pipeline of claims coming in. “Estimated total corporate assets worth two billion dalasis,” Prom told the committee’s counsel. “We defended what we could.”
He accused the former Attorney General (AG) and Minister for Justice of indifference to the growing legal crisis, adding: “We met the AG to share our concerns, but he wasn’t helpful. He kept fussing about legal fees,” Prom said. “So, we went to the Chief Justice instead.”
That decision, Prom claimed, angered the AG, who reportedly chastised the receivers for bypassing his office.
“He told us, ‘You should have come to me.’ But we already did, and he didn’t help. So, what do you want us to do? Just fold our hands and let people claim billions behind our back?”
Faced with mounting pressure and legal deadlines, Prom said the firm had no choice but to engage its own legal representation.
“There were weekends where I sat with our lawyer drafting legal defense motions to avoid being found negligent as a receiver,” he recounted. “One missed deadline and we could have lost control over major assets.”
He defended the legal fees, which he said were modest given the complexity of the cases.
“The AG and the Commission made a fuss about the lawyers’ fees. But they were reasonably too low, if you ask me considering the kind of cases we were dealing with at the High Court,” he claimed.
Prom described the receiver’s role as having become an “open target” for unresolved debts both legitimate and questionable.
“We settled what we could based on cash flow. But these companies were already financially crippled. And many of the debts came after receivership began,” he said.
He maintained that bills incurred during their management were paid, but pre-receivership debts remained largely unsettled due to lack of funds.
Prom also revealed that AMRC successfully reclaimed a warehouse from KFF, asserting ownership that the receivership could not contest due to missing lease records.
“We even wrote to the Registrar General but couldn’t access the leases. AMRC showed proof of ownership, so the warehouse went back to them,” Prom explained.
“The AG was a party to the case. The Commission knew. Yet we were left on our own,” he lamented.
Source: The Point
