Ex Gambia president took off with $11 million

Banjul: Gambia’s exiled strongman Yahya Jammeh plundered millions of dollars in his final weeks in power leaving state coffers “empty”, an aide to new President Adama Barrow said as West African troops prepared to secure his arrival.

Jammeh flew out of The Gambia on Saturday, ending 22 years at the helm of the small west African nation.

But amid growing controversy over the assurances offered to Jammeh to guarantee his departure, Barrow aide Mai Fatty said the new administration had discovered that some $11 million had recently been stolen. “The coffers are largely empty,” he said.