Diplomatic Passport Case Against Former State House Driver Stalls

The court case on the issuance of fraudulent diplomatic passports involving Mansa Suwareh, a former State House Driver, and one Ebrima J. Sanneh, a former protocol officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been adjourned to July for hearing.

Prosecuting counsel, Patrick Gomez, representing the Attorney General, told the court that the witnesses in the case are unavailable. Counsel Gomez urged the court to adjourn the case to July to enable him to bring his three remaining witnesses. “We don’t have witnesses for today’s hearing.”

The witnesses, currently absent, are expected to testify for the prosecution before it closes its case. Meanwhile, the defense counsel, Segga Gaye, informed the court that he has four witnesses, including the two accused persons, who he intends to call.

Mansa Sumareh and Ebrima J. Sanneh are standing trial on charges of conspiracy and forgery. They are accused of conspiring among themselves to procure Gambian diplomatic passports to one Bakary K. Suso. They pleaded not guilty and were granted bail by the court.

The prosecution already called five witnesses who have testified in the case. The witness that was scheduled to testify today, as “prosecution witness six,” was Ndey Awa Cham, whose name and signature were on the letter of approval accompanying the passport application for Mr. Suso.

The court took longer than anticipated, and Justice Ebrima Jaiteh indicated his desire to expedite the trial so that he could round up the case in July.