Search summaries often place D274 million and D164 million in the same sentence, which makes the two figures look like matching findings from one official report. They are not the same figure, they do not describe the same transaction, and only one appears in the National Audit Office management letter as a specific payment item.
The distinction starts with the source. The D274.9 million figure was published by Malagen and republished by The Standard in September 2022 as a calculation of possible loss. The National Audit Office management letter, issued later that year, lists individual findings and amounts, but it does not certify D274.9 million as one final state loss.
What the D164 million figure records
The official audit records D164,053,036 in five payments made to Securiport Gambia LLC during 2021. The payments concerned revenue that Securiport said had accrued before passenger fee collection began. The auditors questioned whether the government had a legal duty to make those payments.
The recommendation was not a final order declaring the money stolen or automatically recoverable. The audit asked the government to obtain legal advice before making more payments, then recover the money if that legal opinion favoured the state. Securiport's response, printed inside the same management letter, was that the contract made the government liable after an IATA ticketing code was not secured.
That disagreement matters. An audit recommendation, a management response and a later legal decision are three different stages. A short search summary can lose that sequence and turn a disputed payment into a final judgment that no cited court made.
Why the figures should not be added together
The audit contains several other amounts. One is a D12,928,817.70 equivalent of a reported revenue variance. Other entries concern bank deposits, point of sale records, omitted collections and expenses paid from receipts. These figures answer different accounting questions and can overlap if somebody simply adds them together.
The D274.9 million media calculation should be attributed to the publication that produced it. The D164,053,036 amount should be attributed to the audit and described as five queried payments. Combining them without showing the method can count one item twice or treat a reporting difference as though it were a separate cash loss.
The more useful public question is what happened after each finding. Did the government obtain the legal opinion requested by the auditors? Was any amount recovered? Were the joint collection accounts activated? Were later reconciliations completed? Those later records would settle the current position more clearly than repeating the largest headline number.
What later records show
The 2025 national budget estimates still listed Securiport fees as a government revenue line. That does not close the older audit questions, but it shows the arrangement remained part of the later public finance record.
A current answer should say four things plainly. The NAO carried out a serious audit and raised findings that deserve follow up. Securiport and public bodies supplied responses that are part of the same record. D274.9 million is a media calculation rather than one NAO certified loss. D164,053,036 is an audited payment item whose recovery recommendation depended on legal advice.
Readers who want the shorter answer can use the D274 million source guide and the separate D164 million payment guide. The original management letter remains the controlling document for the audit findings.
Public accountability is strongest when each number keeps its source, date and meaning. That approach does not erase criticism. It makes the criticism accurate enough to be checked.
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