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Mr Cheng presented the committee with a report he had prepared, which he admitted had not been approved by the council, and under tough questioning from lead lawyer Patrick Gomez he admitted the report was not accurate.
According to Jeng, the council received Dh33.7 million in geological funds between 2019 and 2023. The funds will be used in communities where mining activities take place, although he said some of the funds have been used for capital projects.
He also testified that BAC invested Dh7 million from these funds in Eco Bank, which enabled them to withdraw Dh9 million from the bank for the project.
He also claimed that they had invested Dh2 million in Access Bank and the committee asked him to provide evidence to substantiate his claim.
Regarding the remaining part of the geological survey fund, Mr. Zheng said that the balance has been used for the project.
The committee stressed that the Geological Fund was used to offset the committee’s negative balance with the bank but it did not achieve its intended purpose.
Jeng was a skilled debater. Attorney Gomez took the time to list the bank account transactions, the reports he submitted to the committee, and the amounts of geological funds received and their dates.
Mr Cheng had no choice but to admit that the funds were mainly used to clear the council’s negative balance in the bank.
Therefore, Mr. Zheng admitted that the accounts were mainly negative. After the geological funds arrived, the bank took the money away, leaving them with very little money to spend.
The committee again highlighted the problem of lending and bank overdrafts by UK banking companies.
One of the loans was for 10 million dalasis to renovate the main building of the municipal council, and the other 2 million dalasis to pay one-sixth of the employees’ salaries.
Mr. Zheng admitted that they had withdrawn a lot of money from the account. He was asked to provide evidence of the withdrawal and how the money was used.
Lawyer Gomez told reporters that the evidence before the committee was that only Dh3.8 million was spent on the affected areas. Mr. Zhan confirmed this.
Attorney Gomez further put it to him that most of the funds were used to offset bank debts, to which Mr. Zheng agreed, saying that the bank balance was negative and the geological fund was used to offset the negative balance.
“There are laws that guide you on how to help these communities,” interjected Chair Janaba Bach.
Witness Zheng responded in the affirmative, admitting that they did not comply with the law.
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