A State House Protocol Officer has admitted in court that he was paid US$300 for his role in the diplomatic passport scandal that rocked the Barrow government in 2019.

Momodou Sowe told the High Court in Banjul that he received $300 from one of the accused, Mansa Sumareh, to obtain diplomatic passport for one Bakary Suso.

Sumareh and 13 others were arrested last year over the unauthorised issuance of Gambian diplomatic passport to ineligible people including foreign criminals in Germany. 

They were charged with obtaining money by false pretences, forgery, making false documents, altering false documents, theft, receiving stolen goods and making documents without authority.

Sowe who was giving testimony told the court that he informed Mansa Sumareh of his limitations as a protocol officer to obtain diplomatic passports for him. 

But he said Sumareh kept on asking him so he drafted a fake letter of approval for diplomatic passports in an attempt to stop him making anymore request. 

“I did not draft the approval letter. I drafted a fake approval letter,” Sowe told the high court.

He told the court that he did not submit the “fake letter” to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for authorisation. 

The defence lawyer for Sumareh said Sowe’s account was not truthful. 

“Mr Sowe, that letter was not fake; it was genuine – you typed it and personally dispatched it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Lawyer Gaye said.

“What is the procedure of issuing an approval letter?” Lawyer Gaye asked.

Sowe told the court that there are two ways of procuring diplomatic passport at the Office of the President. 

He said diplomatic passports could be procured either through a request by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or through instruction by the President himself.

“Sowe, neither of these two procedures applied here (in this case),” Lawyer Gaye said.

“Yes,” Sowe answered.

The trial continues. 

In 2019,  a whistleblower leaked documents showing how Gambian diplomatic passports were issued to ineligible people including dubious business people and foreign criminals. 

From February 2017 to late 2019 about 1,175 diplomatic passports were issued by the Gambia’s Immigration Department.