Monrovia – Getting tough with the fight against corruption, the Special Presidential Task Force (SPTF) has finally indicted the ‘big boys’ of the entire alleged bribery scandal which was brought to light by The Deceivers – a Global Witness Report on Liberia.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo – [email protected] & Lennart Dodoo – [email protected]
Former Minister of Lands Mines and Energy (LME) Eugene Shannon, a renowned geologist, E.C.B. Jones who served as deputy for operations to Shannon at LME, former chairman of the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) Willie Belleh and Morris Saytumah who served as former Minister of State for Political Legal & Economic Affairs are the latest to be indicted.
Shannon and Jones have identified as the masked “Big Boy 1” and “Big Boy 2” mentioned in the report who allegedly received US$250,000 each to catalyze tweaking of Liberia’s Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) to shortchange the government in favor of UK-based Sable Mining which sole intent was to gain easy franchise to the iron ore deposits in the Wologihzi Mountain.
Evidence presented to the court last a week ago showed that Andrew Groves and Klaus Piprek who were at the forefront of establishing Sable Mining in Liberia and ensuring that it gained access to Wologizhi came to Liberia on April 14, 2010 on a private jet, Flight #S000, aircraft ZSLAC, from South Africa and flew to Liberia as special guests of the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy. Aboard that plane, Groves carried a vanity case which he displayed inflight as containing US$500,000.
The money, according to the evidence submitted by the prosecution, was intended to instigate what would become the largest bribery conspiracy in the history of Liberia.
FrontPageAfrica gathered that the US$500,000 brought into Liberia was to allegedly paid to Shannon and Jones during a private dinner at Shannon’s home.
The April 2010 to March 2011 ledger of the Liberian Iron Ore Investment Ltd, a Liberian subsidiary of Sable Mining, showed that Groves paid US$500,000 in cash to “Big Boy 1” and “Big Boy 2” with each pocketing US$250,000.
‘Named’ by Sherman
In a press conference held in May 2016, Cllr. Varney Sherman debunked the Global Witness Report which indicated that Sherman, while serving as lawyer for Sable Mining in 2010, paid US$250,000 to two government officials only identified in the report as “Big Boy 1” and “Big Boy 2”.
The former Unity Party Chairman denied ever directly handling such amount to any government official.
“Neither Sherman & Sherman nor I know any Liberian Government official or anybody else who was designated “Big Boy 01” or “Big Boy 02” and certainly no payment was made to either of these persons directly by me on behalf of Sable Mining; no payment to any such Liberian Government officials was facilitated by either Sherman & Sherman or me.
So, where did Global Witness get its information from to accuse me of assisting Sable Mining to pay bribes to “Big Boy 01” and “Big Boy 02”?
This is purely another outrageous fabrication,” Cllr. Sherman said during that press conference.
Despite giving a hint about the actual identities of “Big Boy 1&2” back in May 2016, the public and the media missed out taking cue from his comments.
During the press conference, he revealed that in order to facilitate changes in the PPCC act, the LME must be in the know, while specifying that Minister proper and the deputy for operations were two key individuals who could had facilitated the process. “…the two persons who would have acted on their behalf in 2010 were Eugene Shannon (the Minister himself) and Ernest C.B. Jones (the Deputy Minister for Operations),” he said.
Sherman continued: “If nobody knew that in 2010, it is I who knew that because I have counseled investors in the mineral industry all my 36 years of law practice.
Why would I then assist Sable Mining in paying huge sums of money as bribes to Alex Tyler, Richard Tolbert and Morris Saytumah and nothing to Eugene Shannon? Why would I assist Sable Mining in paying huge sums of bribes to those person and “peanuts” to Ernest C.B. Jones?”
Sherman’s assertion in May corroborate with prosecutors’ findings which have established US$500,000 was allegedly paid to the former minister and his deputy.
Some legal pundits, however, told FrontPage Africa that though neither Cllr. Sherman nor the Sherman & Sherman law firm was directly involved in the alleged payment, Sable Mining may have acted on Sherman’s advice.
Racketeering, Influence and Corrupt Organization
The investigation revealed that during the tenure of Dr. Shannon and E.C.B. Jones, as Minister and Deputy Minister respectfully, and specifically with the transaction and series of transactions involving Sable Mining, the Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy appeared to have operated like racketeering, influenced and corrupt organization.
But Shannon in a communication to the Special Task Force on May 24, 2016 said he does not recall receiving any payment from any person or company as part of a scheme to revise the then “PPCC Act” and influence processes to suit the interest of Sable Mining Company to do mining in Liberia.
“I do not recall ever being involved in any scheme to revise the then “PPCC Act” to suit the interest of Sable or any other private company.
“I recall participating in a legal national process aimed at revising the PPC Act of 2005, for the purpose of making that law more appropriate and more effective in protecting the interest of the Government and people of Liberia.
And I recall giving my best to make sure that the law we drafted, if approved by the Legislature, would be adequate enough to protect Liberia’s interest,” Shannon wrote to the Special Task Force.
Shannon added that he only recalls influencing processes that have led to the preservation of the Wologizi iron ore deposits, until today.
Responding to a letter dated June 7, 2016 extended by the Task Force inviting him for an investigation in relation to the US$500,000 and his transactions with Sable Mining, Shannon in a reply dated June 9, 2016 said, he was no longer the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy as such he had no idea of such transactions.
He said he does not know and had had no dealings in his life time with the Sable Mining Company.
However, records from the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) showed that Dr. Eugene Shannon and his deputy (Ernest Jones) at the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy as hosts, on several occasions received representatives from Sable Mining Africa on regular and traveled on special flights during the period under investigation.
Belleh’s Alleged Involvement
Wille Belleh who served as Chairman of the Public Procurement Commission at the time is alleged in the Global Witness report to have received US$10,000 for his role in ensuring that the relevant section of the draft Act favorable to Sable Mining is maintained in the final version and to ensure its passage.
Emails exchanges purportedly between Belleh and Cllr. Sherman quotes Belleh as writing: “I met with the President on the night of August 5, 2010 along with the Minister of Justice”.
On August 6, 2010 another email stating – “We finally got the revised PPCC Act completed. The Minister of Justice and I met with the President last night and reviewed areas of concern to her. She approved.
The document has been forwarded to the National legislature. It is expected to be fast tracked” was purportedly sent by Belleh to Sherman, the evidence revealed.
However, appearing before the SPTF for interview on May 30, 2016, Prof. Belleh provided a written statement in which he denied receiving any money from Cllr. Sherman and also denied that he had been part of any conspiracy as alleged by Global Witness.
With reference to the email of August 5, 2010, he denied being the author of the email which emanated from his email address and account.
He identified and confirmed the email address and account as his but informed the investigators that his email was hacked at the time although he did not report it at the time.
He also provided a copy of his passport which purportedly shows that he was admitted into New York on June 17, 2010 and returned to Liberia on July 11, 2010. See attached statement of Prof. Willie Belleh.
Morris Saytumah’s Alleged Role
The Global Witness’ alleged that on April 26, 2010, as Minister of State for Finance, Economic and Legal Affairs and President Sirleaf’s Representative on Concession Negotiations; Morris Saytumah received payment of US $50,000.00 to influence the change of the Revised PPC Act of 2005 and the tender process for mineral concessions in favor of Sable Mining Company.
Cllr. Saytumah responded to the allegation of Global Witness by saying he had never participated in any negotiations for concession in favor of Sable Mining and that at no point in time did he receive any money, directly or indirectly, from Sherman and Sherman, and Cllr. Varney Sherman. He further stated that matters related to Sable Mining never came across his desk while he was Minister at the Ministry of State.
Cllr. Saytumah also told the Special Task Force that he was contacted by Global Witness via email on allegation that Cllr. Varney Sherman gave him US $50,000.00, and they were interested in knowing whether the amount was consulting fees.
According to him, he responded that he did not receive any money from Cllr. H. Varney G. Sherman.
He further stated that the only time he represented the President on concession related discussions was on Mineral Development Agreement (MDA), not on mining. Cllr. Saytumah said although he was aware of the process of revising the Procurement Laws of 2005, he did not think it was done to suit current and future interests of Sable Mining.