Officials of the Basse Area Council have been reprimanded for “misrepresentation of facts” during an appearance before the National Assembly Select Committee on Regional Government, lands and Ombudsman.

The council’s officials were found to have submitted an unaudited financial report on the official letterhead of the National Audit Office (NAO).

Select Committee member Sunkary Badjie, MP for Foni Brefet asked the council’s chief executive officer Bakary Trawally if they were aware that their actions are “illegal”.

Mr Tarawally said “what happened was unfortunate” , adding that “the the audited financial statement should have been the only report submitted to the National Assembly “.

“The cover letter using (the logo of the NAO) is a serious misrepresentation because if anybody sees this report your assumption will be, this is coming from the National Audit Office.

“It is the audited financial statement that should come with the audited management letter with the auditor’s opinion sent to the National Assembly.”

Mr Tarawally claimed he wasn’t aware of this fraudulent activity and that it was brought to his attention recently. He said his council won’t repeat the “mistake again”

The committee’s deputy chairman Ya Kumba Jaiteh warned the council to desist from such actions in the future.

The session was adjourned and the council asked to resubmit the full dossier of documents for the financial year under review to the committee.