Monrovia – The Council of Patriots, organizers of the upcoming June 7 protest, has taken the Attorney General Frank Musah Dean to task over his recent statement regarding the Agreed-upon-procedure findings in the US$25 million mop-up exercise of the General Auditing Commission in which the minister declared that no money was missing from the exercise.
In a statement Tuesday, the Council of Patriots says it has followed with grave concern the press conference held on Wednesday, May 23, 2019 by Justice Minister Musa Dean on the Report of Factual Findings on the US$$25 Million Mop-Up Exercise conducted by the General Auditing Commission (GAC).
COP said the minister’s statement in which he averred that the GAC Report proved that “no money was missing” in the Mop-Up Exercise although variances and discrepancies were discovered was full of fallacies and untruth. Minister Dean added that investigative reports by Kroll Associates, the Presidential Investigative Team (PIT) and now the GAC point to entrenched weaknesses at the Central Bank, for which he had made appropriate recommendations to the President who is expected to address the nation shortly.
Clever Attempt to Cover up for Cronies
“What is also strange and suspicious is that the Ministry of Justice restricted the GAC investigation to “Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP),” which fall far short of the standards and expectations of the forensic investigation/audit that had been recommended in the PIT report and announced by the very Ministry of Justice in its press statement commissioning the GAC investigation.”
Council of Patrioits
The Council of Patriots says it categorically rejects Minister Dean’s framing of the GAC Report and considers his action as a clever attempt to shield and protect top level cronies of the Government.
Said COP: “The huge variances and discrepancies cited in the GAC Report, which amount in some instances to over L$900 billion Liberian dollars or over US$6 million as well as the many suspicious observations including the transactions with bogus and/or unregistered Forex bureaus and businesses, can in no way support Minister Dean’s definitive conclusion that “no money is missing”.
The COP says it recalls that after investigating the printing and importation of the L$16 billion dollar banknotes, the Government of Liberia came to a similar conclusion that “no money is missing” but that there were variances and discrepancies which occasioned the arrest, on the very day of the release of the report, of CBL Deputy Governor Charles Sirleaf and Director of Banking Dorbor Hagba.
Former CBL Governor Milton Weeks and two others were later arrested and incarcerated and the five former and current CBL officials are presently undergoing prosecution. Unfortunately, COP said, in a classic display of double standard, the Government has yet to effect any arrest in spite of the fact that the Kroll, PIT, and now the GAC reports on the US$25 Million Mop-Up Exercise all point to huge unexplained variances and discrepancies as well as acts of commission and omission, for which officials and individuals should be held liable and culpable.
COP averred that Minister Dean’s frail reaction to the grievous and criminal acts committed in the design and implementation of the mop-up exercise is a source of serious concern. “It is also troubling and suspicious that the nation would have to wait for days to hear from the President of Liberia on what specifically the Government intends to do in response to the three reports on the Mop-Up Exercise when the very Government did not wait for a Presidential Address to take actions on those the Government alleged had acted wrongly in the printing and importation of the L$16 billion dollar,” COP added.
The COP also said it notes with utter dismay that in Minister Dean’s summary, or to be more precise, framing of the GAC Report, he cleverly dodged any reference to the issue of money laundering, the existence of which was referenced in both the Kroll Associates and the Special Presidential Investigative Team (PIT) reports. “The PIT went as far as stating that the mop-up exercise was designed and implemented in such a flawed manner that it created “the platform for illegal business dealers to clean their illegal money” (money laundering). And although the GAC did not use the phrase “money laundering” in its report, the Commission dug up ample evidence to prove that money laundering did indeed mar the “unconventional” mop-up exercise as millions of dollars were exchanged with bogus and/or unregistered businesses, which had the effect of allowing shady individuals and institutions to wash (launder) their shady or criminally acquired Liberian dollar banknotes for clean and crisp US dollar banknotes.”
Additionally, COP added that Justice Minister Dean’s framing of the GAC report completely deflected attention from the role and culpability of the Technical Economic Management Team (TEMT) chaired by Finance Minister Samuel Tweah and Co-Chaired by CBL Governor Nathaniel Patray in the flawed design and implementation of the Mop-Up Exercise. “It is public knowledge that this “unconventional”, high-risk direct mop-up exercise that completely by-passed the commercial banks and entailed the deployment of teams with huge sums of US dollar banknotes to communities was designed, directed, and publicly justified by the TEMT, especially its domineering and talkative Chairman Minister Samuel Tweah. Also, in spite of mounting public concern and fear about the design and conduct of the mop-up exercise, Finance Minister Tweah, as Chair of the TEMT, instead of addressing those concerns by ensuring proper monitoring and oversight as well as instituting mid-course corrective actions, chose to publicly dismiss those concerns and allowed a flawed process to proceed non-stop and un-altered for an entire three- month period.”
Not Surprised by Dean’s Action
COP recalled that the PIT also determined that the TEMT/CBL “deviated” from the conventional best practice which calls for the use of legitimate banking and licensed foreign exchange bureaus or sale auction. “The PIT went further to jointly fault the TEMT and the CBL for their failure “to set standard criteria for the participation of businesses in terms of their legitimacy (eg. duly registered businesses and or tax compliance, etc.); and that the principle of KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER (KYC) was not observed throughout the mop-up exercise thereby creating the platform for illegal business dealers to clean their illegal money (money laundering)”. See Counts 6.5.3 and 6.5.4 of the PIT Report. The GAC also corroborated this finding of the PIT when the GAC stated in its Report that the 2-page Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prepared to guide the mop-up exercise, which should have been reviewed and approved by the TEMT, “did not address the issues of monitoring, segregation of duties, etc,” which was a critical weakness that opened the floodgate for the many unsavory things that occurred during the mop up exercise.”
“Also, in spite of mounting public concern and fear about the design and conduct of the mop-up exercise, Finance Minister Tweah, as Chair of the TEMT, instead of addressing those concerns by ensuring proper monitoring and oversight as well as instituting mid-course corrective actions, chose to publicly dismiss those concerns and allowed a flawed process to proceed non-stop and un-altered for an entire three- month period.”
Council of Patriots
COP declared that a flawed mop-up strategy and SOP eventually led to a flawed implementation and corruption-infested implementation of the mop-up exercise, which represents a gross breach of fiduciary, oversight and monitoring duties for which the leaders of the TEMT (Minister of Finance and the Governor of CBL) cannot escape culpability. “To throw low level staff of the CBL under the bus by putting all the blames on their heads when the TEMT/CBL top management were the ones who designed and directed a flawed “unconventional’ direct mop-up exercise without a robust strategy and SOP, will be an act of grave and glaring injustice.”
The COP stressed Tuesday, that it is not surprised by the latest actions by Minister Dean as it is part of a well-calculated strategy designed by the Government to prevent the public from knowing the gory details of what transpired in the mop-up exercise and protect key government actors from being held to account.
AUP Falls Short of Forensic Audit
COP said in the first place, the Ministry of Justice excluded the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), two key institutions that were involved in the initial investigation of the mop-up exercise, from taking part in the follow-up investigation these institutions had recommended. “The exclusion of the LACC and the FIU was done in the full knowledge of the fact that these two institutions have stronger forensic investigation capabilities than the GAC and such capabilities would have been very helpful in the second investigation.”
COP says it suspects that one possible motive for the exclusion of the LACC from the second investigation by the Ministry of Justice was to prevent the possibility of the LACC, relying on powers in the LACC Act, from recommending and later prosecuting top level officials for misdeeds in the mop-up exercise if the Ministry of Justice does not pursue prosecution after three months. “What is also strange and suspicious is that the Ministry of Justice restricted the GAC investigation to “Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP),” which fall far short of the standards and expectations of the forensic investigation/audit that had been recommended in the PIT report and announced by the very Ministry of Justice in its press statement commissioning the GAC investigation.”
In conclusion, COP said Minister Dean should know that his framing of the report in a way to distort the facts and shield perpetrators of crime is a lazy and unsophisticated ploy that cannot be bought by any sound-minded person. “Again, although it was found that no money was missing and that only variances and discrepancies were noted in the investigation of the printing and importation of L$16 billion, the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Justice was swift in arresting and prosecuting those believed to be responsible for variances and discrepancies. Similarly, in the case of the US$25 million mop-up exercise, the same government is alleging that no money is missing and that only variances and discrepancies exist.
The Government of Liberia is therefore under moral and legal obligation to arrest and prosecute officials and individuals for their acts of commission and omission. Any attempt to use any other standard in bringing to book the perpetrators of crime in the US$25 Million Exercise will be resisted to the fullest by the Council of Patriots and the Liberian People.”