Dear Readers,
OVER THE PAST three months, FrontPageAfrica has been undertaking a major investigative story regarding the alleged investment in a multimillion dollar casino in Bangui, the Central African Republic by Mr. Sebastian Muah, the Managing Director of the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation.
AS A MATTER OF FAIRNESS, FrontPageAfrica made several attempts to get to the bottom of the reports and sought from the horse’s mouth, whether reports and documents in our possession showing purchase of shares in a casino located in CAR by Mr. Muah were true and authentic.
IN A SERIES OF HEATED exchanges between Mr. Muah and the FrontPageAfrica editor, Mr. Muah repeatedly denied knowledge of ownership, knowledge of purchase and in fact, having no knowledge at all about any casino in Bangui.
WHAT MR. MUAH did not know is that FrontPageAfrica already had in its possession, a copy of the ownership distribution linking him to the casino.
IN SEVERAL EMAIL exchanges, Mr. Muah, in sometimes arrogant mood continued, his denials but later changed tune when details of his ten percen ownership per the documents in our possession was made known to him.
REALIZING THAT the tide was turning against him, Mr. Muah made a couple of overtures to suggest to FrontPageAfrica a media arrangement in which the paper would carry public relations articles about LIBTELCO under a contractural arrangement.
MR. MUAH’S OVERTURES which were made through the business office was rejected by the paper as we sought to get to the bottom of a story which raised red flags as to how Mr. Muah was able to acquire the money considering his monthly salary to make a down payment and all of the other associated investments into this multi-million dollar casino in a poor country like the Central African Republic.
WHEN FPA FELT it was reaching nowhere in pursuit of the matter with the somewhat arrogant government official, the editor printed copies of the exchanges with Mr. Muah and submitted them to the office of the President as we sought to get a reaction from the government on what was bordering all the signs of a major graft story allegedly involving Mr. Muah who previously served as Deputy Minister of Finance for Budget.
AFTER WEEKS of waiting, FPA received word this week that the President had submitted Mr. Muah’s name to the Ministry of Justice for investigation. The President, in a communication to the Ministry of Justice expressed dismay over the posture of Mr. Muah as unbecoming of a person in his position as she requested the ministry to probe the matter.
ON Thursday, 05 January 2017, the editor of the paper received a letter from the Ministry of Justice seeking audience on the matter of the casino in Bangui and Mr. Muah but falling short of the scope of the president’s instructions.
The Letter Reads:
Dear Mr. Sieh,
The Ministry of Justice is in receipt of a thread of emails between you and Mr. Sebastian Muah, General Manager, Liberia Telecomunications Authority regarding ownership of shares in a casino bussiness in the Central African Republic(CAR) and allegation of extortion, which if established is criminal under the laws of Liberia.
This is indeed a concern of the Government of Liberia (GoL) in light of the portfolio that Mr. Muah occupies in this connection, a meeting has been convened on Tuesday, January 10, 2016 at 10:00 am in the Conference Room of the Minister of Justice to ascertain the facts of this matter.
Your prompt attendance is therefore required.
With kind regards, I remain.
Sincerely,
Cllr. Frederick D. Cherue, Minister/Attorney General
THE EDITOR WHO IS currently out on study has designated a lawyer to represent him at the meeting and notified the Ministry that he is currently out of the country.
WE DEMAND THE Ministry of Justice make public the letter sent by the President instructing the investigation of Mr. Muah.
While the Ministry in its letter inviting FPA for the investigation is keen about claims of extortion on the part of FPA, we hope that the Ministry would also indicate that the President is also concerned about the language and posture of Muah as contained in the thread of emails between him and FPA which she described as unbecoming of a person in his position.
WE APPLAUD the office of the President for giving seriousness to this matter and look forward to an indepth investigation into this matter in full view of the public glare.
THIS IS WHY we are making all of the communications and exchanges with Mr. Muah public so that you can be the judge as to whether Mr. Muah has been truthful regarding these serious reports of his ownership of a casino in Bangui.
AFTER NEARLY 170 YEARS in existence, Liberia ranks at the bottom on nearly all international and domestic indicators, because officials of Government have always taken the liberty to extract cash from the state for their own personal aggrandizement, leaving millions of Liberians in adject poverty. But we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel where the President is attacking seriouness to the grave of issue of public sector corruption.
MR. MUAH WAS IN Monrovia working at an internet café from 2006 until in 2008 Mr. Amara Konneh hired him to serve as Deputy Minister of Planning when Konneh was appointed Minister of Planning. Mr. Muah followed Minister Konneh and served as Deputy Minister of Finance and later he was appointed as Managing Director at Liberia Telecommunications Corporation. But as in the usual defense, he now claim he was a successful UN employee and a successful businessman before he took up his post as Deputy Minister.