WE THINK THIS GEORGE Manneh Weah’s administration knows where the alleged ‘missing’ containers and bags of L$16 billion are.
THERE ARE JUST FEW SIMPLE questions that require short, clear and concise answers, which can lead to concrete clues to finding the money, IF it is indeed missing as being insinuated.
AS EVERYONE IS NOW probably aware of the biggest news in Liberia, we are not going to restate the full details of what happened. However, for posterity’s sake, we will restate briefly how we got to this point.
THIS NEWSPAPER HAD reported on September 17, 2018, that the Liberian government was tight lipped on at least L$9 billion that had allegedly gone missing. Few hours after this publication hit the newsstand on the same day, the Liberian government issued a press release. In that release, which was under the signature of Justice Minister Frank Musah Dean, Jnr., the Liberian government confirmed the speculations about the moneys: “Initial findings indicate that the containers and bags of moneys allegedly arrived between November 2017, prior to the inauguration of the current government, and August 2018. Evidence available to the Investigative Team has established that the current administration was not informed about the arrival of the containers and bags of moneys into the country.” The release was intended to vindicate this administration from any wrongful acts as it pertains to the handling of the moneys.
HOWEVER, ON THAT SAME day, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf granted an exclusive interview with FrontPageAfrica and stated her disappointment with the initial findings of the government.
FORMER PRESIDENT SIRLEAF suggested a sinister play was at work to impugn her legacy and that of her administration.
MADAM SIRLEAF: “I HAVE been reliably informed that the Central Bank of Liberia has undertaken an internal investigation and by a directive from the Minister of Justice provided a full report to the police. The CBL has prepared a release that gives full evidence and clarification that refutes the statement of [Information] Minister [Lenn Eugene] Nagbe. This had been held for two days because the CBL Governor and the Minister of Justice have refused to approve the release. It is most unfortunate that the GOL would give false information that wickedly impugns the reputation of past officials and by extension the country itself.”
ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, this newspaper exclusively published all or most of the paper transactions between officials of the National Port Authority (NPA) and that of the Central Bank of Liberia, which took delivery of the containers from the port yard.
LOOKING AT THE PAPER works beginning in February 2018, this newspaper believes/thinks that the containers and bags of moneys are not “missing.” CBL took possession of the containers in March 2018. So this Weah-led Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration took delivery of the containers and possibly the bags of moneys. Ellen’s 12-year rule had come to an end on January 22, 2018, when President Weah took the oath of office and ascended to the nation’s highest office, becoming Liberia’s 25th President.
WHY DID THE JUSTICE and the Information Ministers try to shift blame on the immediate past administration when this government took delivery of the money few months after they had ascended to power; and, when they can just follow the paper trails of the money in order to know where they ended? According to them, the investigation into this money matter had started in early August 2018. If they are not just acting, than this is sheer incompetence on the part of the tripartite government investigating team, including the Liberia National Police (LNP), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). We think their so-called investigation couldn’t have dragged on for more than a month beginning on August 8, when the President constituted the three-agency team to probe the matter, if they had been very serious about finding the alleged missing moneys.
TO FURTHER PROVE OUR point that this administration knows where these “moneys” are, it has constituted a new six-institution team to further probe the matter. The six institutions, including the National Bar Association (NBA), the National Civil Society Organization (NCSO), the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY), the Association of Liberia Certified Public Accountants (ALCPA), the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC) and the National Muslim Council of Liberia (NMCL), are to form part of the present investigative team. The government has also asked the US Government’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Treasury Department to help, too, with the ongoing investigation. Very good, but the government needs to stop being jokers and be serious here. This is no peace or reconciliation matter; this is serious criminal investigation. So, they are telling us that the FBI is going to come and sit with FLY, LCC, NMCL, etc, to probe this serious criminal investigation that also have far reaching impact on the US currency and international security, IF indeed the containers and bags of moneys are missing?
A CONTAINER IS TOO cumbersome to carry. IF containers of such nature are missing, the few suspected names out there can’t be the only culprits, in fact they are not. Folks at the highest echelon of power in this administration know what became of those containers and the bags of moneys.
WE THINK BY ADDING six-non security-minded institutions to the present investigating team, which has not shown its juice so far, is aimed at buying sentiments from some portion of the public and demotivating the ongoing criminal investigation.
WE THINK THE GOVERNMENT needed to constitute a team of professional criminal investigators from home and abroad to investigate how two 20-foot containers and bags of moneys could just grow legs and walk away without any trace. This grave matter has serious negative impact on our already broken economy.
ANOTHER THING, ON the list of “persons of interest”, why did they leave out the names of other key players in the process, including the brokers, Mr. Lawrence Sirleaf and Ms. Elise G.N. Jolo of JV’s Enterprises Inc, and even the police officers, who escorted the containers and bags of moneys to their final destination(s)?
THOSE PEOPLE AT THE highest top are sitting and knowing deeply what is the matter with those containers and bags of moneys.
THIS IS THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL scandal in the entire 171 year history of Liberia. This scandal has far reaching impact on the economy and on every Liberian. It shouldn’t be allowed to be swept under the carpet or be handled by institutions with no criminal investigation backgrounds. Thousands of parents and guardians cannot afford a decent meal for their kids, least to talk about school fees, few reckless and wicked Liberians are there taking away billions of dollars from the country.
LOOK HERE AGAIN, THE government in another press release Wednesday, from the Justice Ministry, it states that the ongoing investigation is for the purpose of adequately accounting for all flows of monies printed and brought in the country between 2016 and 2018. “The findings of this investigation will be critical to the formulation and implementation of a credible and robust monetary and macroeconomic policy in the years ahead.” Really? The investigation is not to prosecute?
ANOTHER THING, THIS IS the worst public relations crisis the Central Bank of Liberia is facing. Why has not the bank spoken even in the face of former President Sirleaf’s allegation against the Bank’s Governor? Is Governor Nathaniel Patray doing so deliberately? Something smells here. Someone is deliberately not saying the truth about this 16 billion dollars, which is approximately US$120 million. Fellow Liberians, IF the money is indeed missing don’t they know where it is? Where is the money? When they signed for the containers from the Freeport of Monrovia, where did they take them? Oh where did they also take the bags of money that arrived via the Roberts International Airport?