The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday, September 18, that nearly $2.5 million from the liquidation of a property owned by former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh in the United States will be returned to The Gambia to compensate victims of his regime. The net amount totals $2,507,911.73.
The funds originated from the sale of a property in Potomac, Maryland, near Washington. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Yahya Jammeh and his wife, Zineb Jammeh, used proceeds from criminal activities and embezzled Gambian public funds to acquire the residence for personal use. The property was subsequently seized and liquidated as part of a forfeiture proceeding conducted by the U.S. justice system.
“The Department of Justice is returning approximately $2.5 million in corruption proceeds to the Republic of The Gambia to be used to compensate victims of the Jammeh regime,” the DOJ stated in a press release.
The agreement reached with Gambian authorities stipulates that the recovered funds will be used to compensate eligible victims of the Jammeh regime. Reparations will be carried out in accordance with the Victims Reparations Act of 2023, the Gambian law dedicated to compensating individuals affected by the former president’s acts of corruption and abuse of power.
The DOJ emphasized that the restitution was made possible through the cooperation of Gambian authorities. For A. Tysen Duva, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, this operation serves as “an important example of international cooperation” to prevent the U.S. financial system from being used to conceal illicit proceeds.
In its complaint, the U.S. justice system alleges that Yahya Jammeh obtained millions of dollars through the embezzlement of public funds and the solicitation of bribes from companies seeking monopoly rights in various sectors of the Gambian economy.
The DOJ also asserts that the former president, along with family members and associates, used “a network of shell companies and trusts abroad” to transfer and launder funds derived from these activities.
The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with support from its Baltimore field office and its office in Dakar. Gambian authorities, as well as the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury, also contributed to the process.
Yahya Jammeh came to power in 1994 following a bloodless coup. He subsequently won several elections before being defeated in December 2016 by Adama Barrow. After refusing to acknowledge his defeat, he finally left The Gambia in January 2017 for exile in Equatorial Guinea, following several weeks of crisis and a military intervention by ECOWAS.
In 2018, the United States banned Yahya Jammeh, his wife, and their children from entering its territory. In 2020, Washington also imposed sanctions on Zineb Jammeh, who was suspected of controlling several assets abroad linked to her husband. The return of the $2.5 million marks a new step in the recovery of assets associated with the former regime and their allocation to reparations for victims.
Captured & Published at: 2026-09-20 03:53:34 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.2424.mg/afrique-de-louest-les-etats-unis-vont-restituer-25-millions-de-dollars-issus-des-avoirs-de-yahya-jammeh-ancien-president-gambien/