The parliamentary investigation into the ‘illegal importation’ and sale of Russian diesel worth US$29 million has called for a ‘proceeding of censure’ against minister of interior— a former police chief Abdoulie Sanyang— and former petroleum minister who is now the minister of Tourism, Abdoulie Jobe. In April 2023, a UAE—based Russian company, Apogee FZC, imported into Gambia nearly 36,000 tonnes of diesel loaded at the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and transferred at sea to a Greek-owned tanker which then sailed on to Banjul.
The company whose general manager— a 46-year old Yulia Aleksandrovna Sergeeva– was sanctioned by the United States for aiding the Russian economy in the war with Ukraine, sold their product in the country for over a year, paid no taxes, and exported the proceeds.
A joint investigation by the Africa Confidential and The Republic published in November 2024 found that the diesel left Novorossiysk, on oil tanker Zumba on 2 April, according to publicly available data on MarineTraffic, a global ship-tracking site.
On 6 April, the Zumba arrived at the Laconia Gulf, off the coast of Greece, where it transferred the diesel to MT Pericles, the oil tanker that then brought it to The Gambia. In what many believed was an apparent attempt to disguise its source, to evade the US sanction on Russian oil, the company puts Kalamata, Greece, as the origin of shipment on their bill of lading.
Once in the storage tanks of the state oil distributor Gam Petroleum (GP), Sergeeva’s company, Apogee FZC, was able to sell over the heads of the usual importers and distributors in the local market, to their dismay. They complained to GP, which had given over 80% of its capacity to Apogee, but to no effect.
After the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit got tipped off about the importation of the product into the country, and the suspicious financial transactions relating to their activities, it launched an investigation and shared its intelligence report with the police, Gambia Revenue Authority and the Central Bank to probe potential money laundering and tax evasion. A police inquiry commenced but the police’s Special Investigation Unit claimed to have received an ‘order from the top’ to stop the probe though they never disclosed the source of the order.
The parliamentary inquiry found that when a suspect working with Apogee in Banjul, Aurimas Steiblys, was arrested, the police chief Abdoulie Sanyang received a call from ex–petroleum minister Abdoulie Jobe and a visit by general manager of Gam Petroleum Yero Jallow which, they concluded, “amount to interference into the investigation”. Jobe is also accused of issuing an obscure policy meant to legitimise the ‘illegal’ operation of Apogee and its two local partners that were not licensed to trade in petroleum products in Gambia, Ultimate Beige and Creed Energy.
“The committee finds and holds that the said calls by the former Minister of Petroleum (Hon. Abdoulie Jobe) and the visit by the General Manager of Gam-petroleum amount to interference into the investigation,” the report states.
The exact details of the conversation between the police head and Jobe and Jallow are not revealed. But it was clear the investigation was cut short. The inquiry recommended for Yero to be suspended, investigated and if found liable, prosecuted. “That the General Manager of Gam-Petroleum be immediately suspended pending a criminal investigation,” recommended the inquiry.
The parliamentary inquiry also urged the National Assembly to initiate proceedings to ‘censure’ the former police chief, now Interior Minister Sanyang, “for his alleged role in prematurely halting the police investigation in the report of the Financial Intelligence Unit, and or failing to keep proper command authority in the handling of the investigation”.
Once the report, tabled today and due to be debated next week, is adopted, the lawmakers can initiate a motion to censure the ministers and officials accused of wrongdoing. This process requires a two third majority. Once the motion of censure is adopted, the authorities will be compelled to open an inquiry into the conduct of the ministers which can lead to prosecution if found culpable.
“…The inquiry reveals serious governance and regulatory failures, pervasive non- compliance with financial, tax, and corporate laws, and a troubling disregard for due process by both public institutions and private entities involved in the transactions,” said the lawmakers in their report.
“The Inquiry has further uncovered systemic weaknesses in institutional oversight, inadequate enforcement of existing laws, and collusion, whether by omission or commission, that have resulted in significant risks to public revenue, financial integrity, and the credibility of national institutions.”
The inquiry also tasked the GRA to make extra efforts to recover some D20.8m, calculated to be the taxes owed by the local partners of Apogee, Creed Energy and Ultimate Biege Logistics. The inquiry also recommended for the Central Bank of the Gambia to sanction the Access Bank and Ecobank “for breaches of prudential risk guidelines”.
