Monrovia – For alleged irregularities in the award of a contract to construct the Bong Technical College in Gbarnga, two current lawmakers and an ex-lawmaker have been charged for criminal Solicitation.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
Edward W. Karfiah of District five and Marvin Cole of three, two current lawmakers, and former lawmakers George S. Mulbah, former chairman of the legislative caucus, and Tokpa J. Mulbah of Bong County along Kenneth Yoa Awadjie and Bong County Project Engineer, Marcus Berrian are charged for fraud, Criminal facilitation, Criminal solicitation and Criminal Conspiracy.
Also, Mr. Lian Zhi Contractor/CEO of Liberia China United Investment Group (LCUIG) is charged for Theft of Property in a contract worth over US$2 million dollar.
The suspects will be jointly prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice and LACC.
Liberia Agriculture Commodity Regulatory Authority Managing Director Dr. John Flomo will be charged under the Criminal statue for theft of Property of US$2,681,491.30.
The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) says on January 5, 2018, it submitted an amended report to the Ministry of Justice for appropriate criminal action (s).
It can be recalled that the LACC forwarded the names of the three individuals to face prosecution in line with their alleged role in a questionable contractual agreement signed between the county administration of Bong and the Liberia China United Investment Group.
FrontPageAfrica has gathered that the LACC is still monitoring the addendum to the contract, which increased the figure from US$4 million to US$7 million despite slow progress on the construction work the Bong County Technical College (BCTC).
A recent audit report conducted by the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) showed shortcomings in the awarding of the contract to the Chinese company.
It was also uncovered that three sitting lawmakers from the 52nd Legislature had shares in the company. Lawmakers Bhofal Chambers, Alex Tyler, and former lawmaker Kettemuehn Murray were found to have owned shares in the company hired to construct the BCTC.
The LACC has investigated and forwarded the names of Mr. Murray, Tyler and Chambers to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution but the names of those who signed the addendum was omitted from the LACC prosecution list, raising eyebrows in Bong County and one source has hinted that the Commission is still probing the addendum to the contract.
The contract for the construction of the college was signed on October 13, 2010, for a twin storey academic and administrative building of Dolokelen Gboveh Community College.
Who signed Addendum?
With the contractor yet to perform some of the required work on the building and the county administration also defaulting on payment terms, a massive addendum to the contract was negotiated and signed on October 13, 2015 – about five years after the signing of the initial contract.
The addendum increased the contract amount to a whopping US$7million, adding an additional US$3,210,150 to the initial contract amount.
A copy of the addendum to the contract in the possession of FrontPageAfrica indicates that Senator Henry Yallah, as Chairman of the Bong County Legislative Caucus at the time, negotiated and signed the contract despite little progress on the implementation of the terms of the previous contract.
Other signatories to the addendum included, Thomas K. Cisco, Project Management Team, Selena Polson Mappy, County Superintendent, and Lian Zhi, General Manager of the construction company.
The addendum contract was also attested by William Gyude Moore, former Minister of Public Works in the government of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The justification for negotiating and signing an addendum to the contract is yet to be explained by those who signed the addendum while work is currently at a standstill.
Will LACC dig deeper?
Although the LACC has already submitted the names of the three individuals to the Justice Ministry for Prosecution, many believe those who signed the addendum contract should be probed further.
The extra US$3 million addition to a construction contract is seen as a huge doubt and a major source of siphoning public resources, considering that the project is being stalled.
Since the IAA internal report was released, Senator Yallah who signed the questionable addendum, is yet to surface in the entire saga, raising questions as to why such a key figure is being omitted from the entire discussions regarding the BCTC project.
Senator Yallah served as Chairman of the Bong County Legislative Caucus from 2015 to early 2017 and during his tenure bulk of the money to the Chinese contractor was paid but the BCTC is yet to be completed.
One source has hinted that the LACC is still looking into specifics of the addendum and might likely forward more names to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution.