Gainako received a letter supposedly released by Sr. prosecuting lawyer of the NIA 9 Sheriff Tambedou explaining in details the circumstances surrounding his reasons for agreeing to meet with Ndura Badjie wife of former Director of NIA Yankuba Badjie who along with others are standing trial for allegedly killing Solo Sandeng of the UDP.
Mr. Tambedou explained that his meeting the wife was supposed to included all counsels of the accused with their lawyers to discuss a plea bargain. The meeting was scheduled for June 20th where the plea bargain would be discussed with the accuses’ attorneys along with one unnamed colleague of Mr. Tambedou. Our investigations revealed that the other prosecuting attorney was Lamin Camara. Mr. Tambedou said the attorney for the 1st accused Yankuba Badjie CE Mene & E.E Chime two Nigerian lawyers were traveling out of the country. Mene therefore requested that Mr. Tambedou meet with the wife of Yankuba Badjie to explain to her about the plea bargain. This meeting was supposed to be held between Mr. Tambedou, Lamin Camara and Ndura Badjie.
However, the meeting ended up happening between Mr. Tambedou and Ndura without the presence of the other prosecuting attorneys for some reason. The plea bargain deal was somewhat related to the ‘mission driven lady’ who was apparently armed with a tape recorder. Mr. Tambedou admitted discussing other important matters outside of his assignment to which he “take full responsibility”. He stressed in his letter that the statement he made about his brother the Attorney General not wishing to see this case in court was “not based on anything the Attorney General discussed or had told me” it was purely his own opinion based on a press briefing the Attorney General gave in March regarding his ministry not being informed by the ministry of interior prior to arresting the NIA 9.
Readers may recalled that this press conference by the attorney general openly criticizing his colleagues was widely condemned as an embarrassment to the new administration. Why a seasoned lawyer like Sheriff will refer to an incident that was already embarrassing to his brother and the administration is beyond comprehension. Sheriff realizing he made a serious mistake said “I never said to Mrs. Badjie in our meeting that the state has no case against her husband or that the evidence against her husband is weak” He added on the contrary, he believes in the strength of the case otherwise he would not have agreed to be part of the team. To be fair to Sheriff he was initially heard saying in the recording that justice will take its course. However, upon a lengthy lecture from the wife of the ‘former Boss’ threatening to do something about the case, Sheriff admitted that nothing much was going to come out of the case or at the very least they will end up being pardoned.
Sheriff’s attempt to take full responsibility of his actions contrary to his instructions and then turn around and add that “Knowing fully well that I did not do anything illegal or unethical” can best be described as laying down the ground for defense against unethical conduct and possible malpractice which can lead to a complain on his license. If you take full responsibility of your actions then something either unethical or out of order has occurred. Mr. Tambedou also condemned the illegal recording of the meeting which he described as “private” by Ndura only for it to be distributed to the public. This action by Ndura is a clear indication she was onto something no good. The question many people are asking is whether in fact Ndura’s attorney Mene instructed her to take a tape recorder and record the senior lawyer. This should be investigated as history has shown that Nigerian lawyers in Gambia have been notorious in recording meetings during the dictatorship to either incriminate a witness or a colleague. The recording between former Attorney General Babadining Jorbateh & then Acting Chief Justice Joseph Wowo comes to mind. Even Sheriff and the Justice minister should be interested in this being investigated further to find out if in fact those Nigerian lawyers left the country and or if they set this up to slander the prosecuting attorneys.
However, credit must be given where credit is due. Mr. Tambedou’s recuse from the case and taking full responsibility by resigning from the case in order to maintain the integrity of the case is a commendable move worthy of emulation. Human beings are infallible and making a mistake and taking responsibility of it is the right thing to do. His narration of his history of practicing law in the Gambia with integrity and his consciousness to protect the “good name of his family” is also a respectable move. The case is a very serious incident and there are far reaching ramifications that echoes beyond Sheriff and the legal practice in the Gambia. If this case were to be investigated further, many Gambian legal practitioners in the last two decades may find themselves in so much trouble. Backroom deals, bribery, corruption related to land deals and other unscrupulous activities could be revealed. The lesson in this case is for Gambians to realize that those deals they engage in behind the scenes when the sunsets could be very explosive and must be a thing of the past. This must be a lesson learned for the country to move forward and the NIA 9 case cannot be tampered with. Their victims deserve nothing less… Below is the full letter release by Sheriff Tambedou
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Story by Demba Baldeh