The former minister of Presidential Affairs in the Jammeh regime, Momodou Sabally, has been handed a lifetime ban from holding public office for his role in “aiding and abetting” the former president Yahya Jammeh in corruption, theft and economic crimes.

The lifetime ban was handed by The Gambia government on the recommendation of the Janneh Commission that was set up in 2017 to investigate corruption and economic crimes by the former president Yahya Jammeh and his close associates.

The Commission Report was released on Friday by The Gambia government along with a White Paper setting out the government’s course of actions against individuals and businesses that were were found to have been involved in helping the former president steal and launder public funds.

The Commission found that the former President Yahya Jammeh with the help of his close associates embezzled over a billion dalasi, 304 million Dollars, 29 million Euros, and 2 million Pounds Sterling from the public funds respectively.

Mr. Sabally was given a lifetime ban along with several high profile officials in the former Jammeh regime including Njogu Bah, a former Head of The Gambia’s Civil Service and Cabinet minister, and Amadou Colley, former Governor of the Gambia’s Central Bank.

The Commission found that Mr. Sabally, as Secretary General at the Office of the President was signatory to various public accounts and was also involved in the withdrawal of public funds in the behest of former President Yahya Jammeh.

The Commission investigation on Me Sabally centred on the Government Carnegie Minerals account, and he was found to have helped former president Jammeh steal D14,686,500 from the public funds.

Mr. Sabally, the self-style Gambia Pen, was found by the Janneh Commission to have acted below the standard expected of a public official and recommended his life ban which the government accepted. It takes effect on Friday September 13, the day the government White Paper was published.

The disgraced former minister started his career at the Central Bank as an Economist before he was catapulted to the corridors of power in 2013. Jammeh appointed him Secretary General and Presidential Affairs minister in June 2013 until his firing a year later.