Yus, thanks for the dossier verily it is very informative, I never knew that Baba Jobe was so deeply involved. There appears to be a lot of blurred and shaddy issues to deal with and am now convinced that the UN must have something tangible against him to warrant a ban. I hope the assembly members will raise the issue so that it would be clarified if he can or cannot travel. >From: Y C Jow <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: QUESTION? >Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 16:17:07 EST > >Malik: >I don't know how Mr. Jobe's ban affect his status as a NAM, however this >should act as reference in putting the seriousness of the matter at hand in >perspective. This is culled from the UN report which led to the travel >bans >being imposed on some of these folk, who were engaged in business with >despicable foreign nationals who profited off the blood and misery of >Africans to enrich themselves though arms and diamond trafficking. > > >The Gambia New Millennium air incident. In January 2000, the President of >the >Central African Republic traveled to the Agenda 2000 summit of African >heads >of State in Libreville, Gabon. When the presidential delegation arrived in >Libreville, they were congratulated for a beautiful aircraft standing at >the >airport. The plane, an Ilyushin-62, carried the registration number >TL-ACL.283. It also carried the flag of the Central African Republic and >"CentrafricanAirlines" was written in bold letters on the plane. The >authorities in Gabon thought it was a new acquisition of the Central >African >Republic's President. The President, however, had never heard of such a >plane, and upon inspection it seemed another official delegation from >Gambia >had arrived in this particular aircraft. Because of the embarrassing >situation, an investigation was carried out by the Ministry of Transport >and >the Prosecutor of the Central African Republic, in cooperation with ASECNA, >the African air navigation and safety organization. The investigation >discovered two documents that had allowed the plane to operate, a >"Temporary" >Certificate of Registration and an Airworthiness Certificate.These >documents >were forged and had been issued and signed by Armand Fulbert Doungovo, the >Director of Civil Aviation of the Central African Republic. On 24 January >2000, the investigating authorities ordered the immediate arrest of Mr. >Doungovo, Mr. Bout and the local manager of Centrafrican Airlines, Mr. >Bouroukine. The Director General of Civil Aviation was ordered to conduct >amore thorough investigation, and on 14 February 2000 a Ministerial Decree >put an end to all the activities of the company Centrafrican Airlines in >the >Central African >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >-- > > > The Panel verified that the offices of Centrafrican in Bangui were indeed >closed and are now used by the company Sudan Airways. It remains unclear >why >the other shareholder of Centrafrican, the Belgian pilot Ronal De Smet, who >has been along-time partner of Victor Bout, was not indicted in this case. >The Director General of Civil Aviation had earlier tried to obtain >information from Director Doungovo on his relationship with Centrafrican >Airlines. A letter sent to Doungovo dated 22 June 1999, shows the Director >General's suspicion was raised when he discovered that the Director was >travelling abroad to negotiate traffic rights as a representative of the >company, Centrafrican Airlines. The incident in Gabon,however, had >accelerated things. > >Massive fraud >This investigation showed that Mr. Doungovo and Victor Bout had fabricated >airworthiness certificates, air operator permits and certificates of >registration for a great number of aircraft. Most of these had earlier been >deregistered in the Kingdom of Swaziland, where Victor Bout and his >partners >had set up a similar scheme.Before that, Mr. Bout's planes had been >registered in Liberia.. The Gambia New Millennium plane had been bought by >a >Gambian a few weeks before the Gabon incident. A copy of the sales >agreement >shows that the seller was Victor Bout, General Manager of Centrafrican >Airlines. The buyer was Gambia New Millennium Air, represented by Mr. Baba >Jobe. The bank details show that the final beneficiary of the transaction >was >the holder of an account at the Standard Chartered Bank, Sharjah branch. >This >account with number 01-5624312-01is of the Transavia Travel Agency, another >company of Victor Bout. The Panel was able to interview Mr. Baba Jobe in >Banjul, Gambia, in September 2001. Meanwhile, the aircraft has changed >registration and is now legally registered in Gambia. Mr. Jobe, who is a >civil servant and close adviser of the Gambian President, denied knowing >Victor Bout. He said he had never heard of that man and had dealt with a >Mr. >Hajazi, a Lebanese citizen who acted as a representative of Libya. The >plane >was considered a gift to the Gambian President and not to Baba Jobe, nor >had >the Gambian authorities been aware that the aircraft had been involved in a >case of fraud in the Central African Republic. Some suspicion exists on the >activities of Mr. Baba Jobe, first of all because the Paneldoes have a copy >of the sales agreement showing both his and Bout's signatures. Also, among >Mr. Jobe's acquaintances are Ibrahim Bah, one of the RUF rebels whois very >active in the diamond business. Mr. Jobe acknowledged knowing Bah from the >time he had been a student in Libya, where many of the RUF were trained >before the wars in Liberia and later in Sierra Leone. Mr. Jobe stated that >it >had been years since he had spoken or seen Ibrahim Bah. > >The Civil Aviation Authorities in the Central African Republic found many >more incidents in connection with the fraudulently registered aircraft of >Centrafrican Airlines. In one case, the company had issued a false flight >plan. After inspection, it was also found that all the documents >authorizing >the plane to operate were again false. Also, two helicopters belonging to >the >company had made emergency landings due to technical problems. Those >helicopters, too, were operating on false documentation. These helicopters >were, in 2001, operating in the rebel areas in the Democratic Republic of >the >Congo. A flight log obtained from the Ugandan Civil Aviation Authority >shows >a landing in Uganda, in November, of a Let-410 aircraft, with the Liberian >registration EL-MLC. The operator was also Centrafrican Airlines.The Panel >on >Sierra Leone obtained the complete Liberian aircraft registry in November >2000. The helicopter is not among the aircraft on the lis t, again >indicating >a fraudulent use of a registration number.Victor Bout escapes from justice. >When the authorities in Bangui issued a warrant for the arrest of the >Director of Civil Aviation, for the Russian manager of Centrafrican in >Bangui >and for Victor Bout, Bout was still in the country, but he managed to >escape. >On 16 June 2000,Doungovo, the director of Civil Aviation was convicted with >a >year of imprisonment for fraud and forgery. Victor Bout was also charged >and >convicted in absentia with two years in prison. The Court in Bangui also >issued an international arrest warrant for him. But subsequently, on 28 >June >2000, Bout was acquitted of the charges. The Panel did not get any >information on the circumstances of this acquittal. > >The Central African Republic's Civil Aviation Authority noted that despite >the dissolution of the company Centrafrican Airlines in February 2000, the >fraudulently registered aircraft were seen at many airports across Africa >and >elsewhere. > ><<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> > >To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > ><<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>