Gambia’s ex-President Yahya Jammeh looted the country of $1 billion through fear and privilege during his 22 years in power, an amount nine times higher than originally estimated by the new government, leaving the country in lingering debt, according to a report yesterday by the investigative group Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Jammeh looted the money from state coffers, including the central bank, social welfare office and state telecom company, during his more than two decades in power, getting away with it by elevating civil servants to prominent positions and empowering a group of businessmen led by a key Hezbollah financier, the corruption reporting group said.
The $1 billion was used to finance his lavish lifestyle and is believed to still support him in his exile in Equatorial Guinea, the investigative group said. Meanwhile, Gambia remains very poor with a debt of $489 million at the end of 2017, according to the World Bank. Gambia’s central bank also owes more than 130 percent of its GDP to lenders, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Gambia’s government has not yet commented on the report. Gambia’s President Adama Barrow, who beat Jammeh in 2016 elections to usher in a new era for the nation, estimated that Jammeh stole about $90 million. There is an official commission of inquiry launched to look into the stolen funds. The U.S., where Jammeh also bought property, has also banned Jammeh from entering the country because of what it calls “significant corruption.”