Gambia’s ex-leader allegedly made off with cash, luxury cars

BANJUL, Gambia — Exiled Gambian ruler Yahya Jammeh stole millions of dollars in his final weeks in power, plundering state coffers and shipping out luxury vehicles by cargo plane, a special adviser for the new president said Sunday.

Meanwhile, a regional military force rolled in, greeted by cheers, to secure this tiny West African nation so that democratically elected President Adama Barrow could return home. He remained in neighboring Senegal, where he took the oath of office Thursday because of concerns for his safety.

At a news conference in the Senegalese capital, Barrow’s special adviser Mai Ahmad Fatty told journalists that the president “will return home as soon as possible.”

Underscoring the challenges facing the new administration, Fatty said Jammeh made off with more than $11.4 million during a two-week period alone. That is only what he said they have discovered so far since Jammeh and his family took an offer of exile after more than 22 years in power and departed late Saturday.

“The Gambia is in financial distress. The coffers are virtually empty. That is a state of fact,” Fatty said. “It has been confirmed by technicians in the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of the Gambia.”

Fatty also said that a Chadian cargo plane had transported luxury goods out of the country on Jammeh’s behalf in his final hours in power, including an unknown number of vehicles. Four containers remained Sunday at the airport in Guinea’s capital, where Jammeh and his entourage transferred during their flight into exile, said airport authorities. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.