IPNEWS-Monrovia: as the criminal case involving George Kailondo and the Management of Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank Liberia Limited heats up at Criminal Court “C”, a documentary evidence produced by the complainant (Cllr. Kailondo) showed that the bank allegedly conceded to robbing the chief executive officer of the Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated of US$ 510, 000 during reconciliation of the company’s bank statements in 2021.
The bank through its management is on trial at Criminal Court “C” for multiple crimes including theft of property, misapplication of entrusted property and criminal conspiracy.
Cllr. George Kailondo took the witness stand on Thursday, March 24, 2022 to testify in favor of the state as to his knowledge about the case against the bank.
The documentary evidence which is in the possession of this paper is a letter dated April 22, 2021 address to Dr. Jallah Barbu counsellor at law and senior consulting counsel of the Public Interest Law Office, representing the legal interest of George Kailondo in the case.
The letter was written by the Executive Director of GTBank identified as Prince Saye. The letter as an evidence in court was addressed under the caption: “Our understanding of the decision reached at today’s conference.”
An excerpt from the letter reads: “We acknowledge receipt of your communication dated April 22, 2021 in which you convey the decisions reached at the conference held at our offices on April 22, 2021 regarding an authorized US$510, 000 debited from Kailondo Petroleum’s account at our bank and queries by Kailondo Petroleum regarding the outstanding amount owed as the loan obligation to the bank.
The bank general agrees with your conclusions except paragraph three, in which you asserted that the bank will credit your account and will honor any check issued as of today growing out of our discussions and decisions reached.
We wish to clarify that the bank agreed to credit your account and will honor checks up to the amount that will be available in your account as at the time the checks are presented to the bank. We thank the management of Kailondo Petroleum for the amicable resolution of this matter.”
In his testimony, Cllr. Kailondo told the court that the bank admitted to withdrawing the amount stated above, but said they (Bank) used the money to pay themselves thereby, requesting for another reconciliation which he (Kailondo) refused.
“We refused because some of the money they took from us is shameful for this we think they should come to court for the public to know about what they did to our accounts,” he said.
According to Kailondo, the first amount conceded to by the bank is in the tone of USD$510,000.00.
He told the trial that several transactions were made by the bank without his company’s being aware.
In 2015, Kailondo said they approved the payment of US$3.3 million, but during the auditing, it was discovered by their auditors that over US$3,468,000.00 whereas they were only aware of the US$3.3 million.
“They sometimes take money from my account in the name of regularization. He continues, I don’t even know what kind of terminology is that.”
Cllr. Kailondo also inform the court that the bank did not treat him good as a truthful customer to them, had that been the case, they could never have ended up in court that.
