Monrovia – While integrity issue beclouds the recently nominated Deputy Managing Director for Administration of Liberia Water & Sewer Corporation (LWSC), he has opted to fight back with falsehoods and dishonesty in order to save face.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
Mr. Moseray Momoh, FrontPageAfrica has gathered, was at the verge of dismissal for acts of corruption and conflict of interest while serving as Procurement Officer/Manager on the Urban Water Supply Project, which was funded by the African Development Bank.
However, in a rather deceitful posture, Momoh has called two consecutive press conferences – March 5 & 6, debunking a FrontPageAfrica publication that he was involved in dubious acts that led to the termination of his employment from the entity.
“He went through the investigation and based on the gravity and magnititude of corruption the investigative team recommended to the Board his termination.
“Management signed onto the recommendation, but he had the foresight, he resigned just before the MD at the time, Charles Allen, could give him his termination letter,” a former Board Member of LWSC told FrontPageAfrica.
The source challenged Mr. Momoh to speak directly to the records at the LWSC.
Momoh claimed that he resigned and bragged that the then deputy managing director for administration, Charlene Awadjie-Ihedioha had recommended him on July 28, 2015 for employment with UNDP Liberia – a move he relied upon to prove that he was not involved in any scandal at the LWSC.
The so-called letter of recommendation, a copy of which FrontPageAfrica has obtained, was written without the consent the LWSC management when Momoh was serving suspension and undergoing investigation for his fraudulent act, a member of the management team who called for anonymity as he is no longer in office told this paper.
He was suspended by the then Managing Director, Charles Allen, on May 21, 2015 upon the discovery of his involvement with bid tampering.
The suspension letter, a copy of which FrontPageAfrica has obtained reads:
Dear Mr. Momoh,
Compliment.
In view of the allegation levied against you by the Bid Evaluation Committee, the LWSC is constrained to suspend you without pay until a full investigation.
At the completion of the investigation, it was recommended by the team that Momoh be terminated for issues of conflict of interest.
During your suspension, you are to handover UWSSP documents to Mr. Zohn Doebo, Procurement Manager and make yourself available as/when required by the committee.
“The Procurement Expert be terminated for issues of conflict of interest and the Project Manager be sanctioned as the oversight responsibility of the bid process lies in his remit.
“Management had continuously reminded them of the reputational challenges faced by the corporation and the need to ensure that such lapses in the bid receipt and documentation did not obtain,” Mr. Allen wrote to the Board of Directors in a summary report of the investigative team’s findings and recommendations.
Mr. Allen’s report to the Board is dated July 24, 2015, just few days before Momoh tendered his resignation.
Documents in possession of FrontPageAfrica show that the management of the LWSC at the time had signed unto his termination as recommended by the investigative team, but while Momoh, having been tipped on the endorsement of the recommendation was quick to tender his resign.
“The only reason why there was a delay in delivering his termination letter was because the managing director at the time was waiting for all members of the management team to sign onto the document.”
“Even the Deputy Managing Director who he claimed wrote a recommendation letter for him signed for his termination. How can he justify that?
The management team also recommended that Momoh should not be rehired by the LWSC.
Mr. Moseray Momoh served as Procurement Expert/Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project (UWSSP) and headed the bidding process for the rehabilitation of the Water Treatment Plant in White Plains.
The LWSC launched an investigation into the bidding process after receiving complaints of conflict of interest and bid tampering by employees of the Corporation.
The investigation gathered that Momoh, being the procurement expert, did not indicate the nature of his or that of his company’s relationship with one of the participating bidders prior to the commencement of the bid evaluation exercise.
This, according to informed sources, is critical because in such cases full disclosure allows all parties to be protected.
The investigative team also said in its report that the procedures utilized by the bid evaluation committee were not sufficiently robust to avoid several lapses in the process.
His alleged dubious act was in connection with a Chinese-Liberian company, which was alleged to be of interest to him.
Although Chen-Liberia, originally called China and Liberia Enterprise, was established through Articles of Incorporation signed in 1992 and amended in 2012, both names were used interchangeably.
More importantly, the bid documents were paid for by China-Liberia Enterprise although the bid was submitted by Chen-Liberia Enterprise, the document indicated.
Robust scrutiny during the preliminary examination of bids revealed that Chen’s registration for both Liberia and China had expired since and their translations into English were not notarized.
Based on the recommendations from the investigative team, Mr. Momoh did not spend a year in the employ of the Corporation.