An audit of the Gambia Public Printing Corporation has exposed a major potential conflict of interest, revealing that managing director Momodou Ceesay is the sole signatory for the bank account of Jessakono Enterprise – a frequent supplier to the state corporation he led.
The findings follow an investigation by The Republic published in March 2025, connecting Ceesay to Orzec ICT Solution, another supplier of the GPPC whose office houses Jessakono, a sole proprietorship owned by a cousin of Momodou, Habib Ceesay. Habib told The Republic in March that Jessakono received no preferential treatment from GPPC and Momodou has no relationship with the business.
However, a draft copy of a special audit by the National Audit Office seen by The Republic says Ceesay is a signatory of the Bloom Bank account of the Jessakono Enterprise. Ceesay was suspended in January 2025 by the State Owned Enterprise (SOE) Commission amidst allegations of widespread corruption by his board chair Dr Alieu Faal.
“The audit established that the MD of the GPPC is the sole signatory to the Bloom Bank account of Jessakono Enterprise, a company purportedly owned by his relative, Mr Habib Ceesay,” said a 34-page audit conducted by the National Audit Office which probed the agency’s books from January 2022 to December 2024. “Jessakono Enterprise has supplied goods and services valued at GMD3,709,525.
In his management response, the GPPC managing director said the Corporation’s business with jessakano has always been “transparent” without his “influence or interference”.
“The issue of becoming a signatory to Jessakano account came when the owner approached MD to help him in managing his business knowing his background in Finance and management as a family brother voluntarily which he accepted,” said the Momodou in his management response, as a reason for being the signatory to the account of Jesakono. “The owner then wrote to the bank requesting them to put MD as a signatory, a copy of which you obtained from the bank. Since then, MD have been assisting him in managing through advice where necessary. This had never affected his official duties in any way.”
Jessakono is named after an ancestral compound that nominates imams in the North Bank Region village of Kerewan, the native village of both Habib and Momodou. Momodou is a descendant of this lineage, as is his “brother” Habib Ceesay, the official owner of Jessakono Enterprise. Jessakono was registered in May 2014, according to the company registration department of the Ministry of Justice – less than two years after Momodou became the GPPC’s managing director in October 2012.
Jessakono, located on the first floor of a two-storey building on Kairaba Avenue two blocks from Traffic Lights and hidden from public view, is housed in an office space purportedly rented by a business in which Momodou is the majority shareholder.
A faded board on the building still advertises the place as Orzec ICT Solutions. Orzec ICT Solutions Company Limited was registered in February 2014, four months earlier than Jessakono. Habib, though acknowledging he is using Orzec’s office, denied any association with Orzec or knowledge of who the owner is.
As of February 24, 2025, the shelves of the store were empty. A member of staff found by a visiting journalist from The Republic claimed they only use the office for paperwork but have a store at Jeshwang – a claim denied by multiple GPPC employees, including those who directly deal with Jessakono. “I am only aware of their operations from Kairaba Avenue,” said one of the employees familiar with Jessakono’s operation.
Orzec was a registered GPPA supplier for 2019 and 2020, a requirement for businesses that wish to participate in government procurement. In 2017, an external audit of the GPPC flagged Orzec among a list of businesses that supplied the corporation without a delivery note – a document confirming the product’s delivery and the quantity supplied.
Though Momodou declined to speak to The Republic in our earlier publication in March, he has always maintained his innocence. Sources told The Republic that the draft report is being finalised though it is unclear what course of actions will be taken by authorities.
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