Monrovia – In an effort to promote the fight against corruption in the country, the Liberia Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has concluded a three days capacity building workshop on Anti-Fraud Training.
The training which was held at the Liberia Chamber of Commerce on Capitol-Hill brought together financial examiners from several institutions in government.
The theme of the workshop is strengthening fraud prevention detection and control.
ACFE is the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education.
Together with more than 80,000 members, the ACFE is reducing business fraud worldwide and inspiring public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the three days training, the Chief of Party of Liberia Legal Professional Development and Anti-Corruption Program Gerald Meyerman said the program which is a five years program seeks to address the issue of corruptions both in the private and public sector.
“All Liberians are aware of the cost of corruption, and the cost and the relationship with professionals on the private sector side, and on the public sector side are very important in terms of fighting the level of corruption”.
According to the Chief of Party of Liberia Legal Professional Development and Anti-Corruption Program; the 20 million dollars program financed by USAID through the US government will last for a period of five years.
He further said that in Liberia; a large amount of the GDP is being swept by corruption, adding that the five years program will help in the fight against corruptions.
“The cost of corruption in Liberia is probably, and this is an estimation that comes from the World Bank, IMF and others, probably are between 20 to 40 percent of GDP, and so between 400 and 800 million a year is the cost of corruption to all Liberians.”
Also giving a background of the workshop, the President of ACFE- Liberia Chapter Augustine Chenoway said as certified fraud examiners, it is required that they do a 20 CPE hours (continue professional education) adding that as the basis on which the workshop was organized.
According to Chenoway, participants at the workshop have made an achievement by learning new skills and building on their knowledge, which will enable them to strengthen the fight against fraud in the country.
“It is not only the government; fraud is all over the place”, the President of ACFE said.