Monrovia – Defrauding national government of revenues has become a common practice in Liberia that has caused government to lose an undisclosed amount of its needed revenues.
Early this year the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) charged with the responsibilities to collect all government revenues announced the arrest of four persons, including personnel of the Bureau of Immigration (BIN) and that of the Ministry of Transport (MOT), which the entity said were allegedly engaged in the issuance of fake revenue receipts to taxpayers.
The LRA said that the receipts were discovered to be fake following tipoff by the entity’s team of investigations that those arrested were in the habit of issuing fake revenue receipts to customers for work permits and car licenses.
Following the arrest and other reports from the LRA of tax evasion leading to the closure of several businesses across Monrovia, the Liberia National Police (LNP) Monday forwarded four Fula nationals to court who the police say were involved in fraud.
The four Fula nationals, who the police have identified as Chirino Mamadou Jallow, Mohammed Wura, Abraham Jalloh and Mamadou Barry, have been charged with criminal conspiracy, facilitation and economic sabotage and fraud on the internal revenue of Liberia.
The arrest of the four Fula nationals, the LNP said was predicated upon a complaint filed by the Assistant Labour Minister for Regional Affairs, Prince Korvah, where he told the police that Labour Ministry alongside the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and the Bureau of Immigration were leading a revenue enforcement scheme on the ECOWAS biometric work permit.
Assistant Minister Korvah alleged that as the requirement under Regulation Number 178 of the Labour Law and Practices of the Republic of Liberia states that ECOWAS citizens who seek employment in the informal sector shall pay an annual work permit fee of US$100.
According to the Assistant Minister, during the execution of the exercise on October 24, 2016 in Monrovia, it was discovered the defendants who are all tricycle riders, deliberately refused to pay the amount each into government coffer but rather were caught using photocopies of the original Government of Liberia ECOWAS biometric work permit receipts that belong to one of them.
“The photocopies of the LRA receipts caught in the defendants’ possession were identified and seized during the routine system check by the ROVIA Gate Technology, the service provider,” said Assistant Minister Korvah’s complaint.
According to the police, when the principal defendant (Mohammed Wura) was investigated on the matter with the other defendants, he narrated that after he arrived from Guinea he applied for the work permit as a tricylist in October 2016 and after he got the permit one of his friends defendant Jallow asked him to photocopy it to use it before he can get his own and in the process he was by the Labour Ministry inspection team.
“As evident by the voluntary statements of defendants Mohammed Wura, Chirno Mamadou Jallow, Abraham Jalloh and Mohammed Barry, coupled with the original photocopies of the LRA tax payment receipt, which were caught in use by the defendants with the intent to defraud the government the investigation established that the defendants committed the crime against the government,” said the police investigation team.
The four defendants after they were arraigned before the Monrovia City Court at the Temple of Justice were later reprimanded at the Monrovia Central Prison awaiting prosecution.