The protracted trial of the former Managing Director of Gamtel, Omar Ndow, has taken a sudden turn as he was yesterday acquitted and discharged on one of the two counts he has been charged with.

Delivering his ruling on the no-case submission earlier on filed by the defence counsel, Magistrate B.Y. Camara of the Banjul Magistrates Court acknowledged that in count two, by which the accused is charged with abuse of office, the prosecution did not obtain the consent from the Attorney General as required by law. He stated that when the accused entered a plea of not guilty, it became the duty of the prosecution to prove the charges against him, adding that the prosecution’s failure to obtain an order to that effect from the Attorney General as required by law meant it failed to provide sufficient proof for that count. Consequently, he ruled, the accused is acquitted and discharged on the said count, count two.

With regards to count one in which the accused is charged with disobedience of statutory duty, Magistrate Camara stated that the heart and soul of a company is its Managing Director whose duty, he noted, it is to follow proper procedures in signing contracts. He added that based on that, the accused has a case to answer in count one and is therefore under obligation to explain.

It could be recalled that Omar Ndow has been charged with two counts- disobedience of statutory duty and abuse of office.

The particulars of the offence in count one read that Omar Ndow on or about the year 2005 and 2006 at Gamtel House in the city of Banjul, being employed in the public service as the Managing Director of Gamtel willfully omitted to refer a contract proposal to the GPPA as statutorily required of him.

In count two the particulars stated that the former Gamtel boss between the year 2005 and 2006 at Gamtel House in Banjul, being employed in the public service, willfully failed to follow the required procedure of the GPPA regulation.

Case adjourned to 19th December 2007.