Monrovia – A little over a week now, after the Central Bank of Liberia called on the government of Liberia to remove the names of its employees placed on travel ban, the Monrovia City Court has issued an order removing the names of CBL employees. Those removed from the travel ban included Mr. Charles Sirleaf, son of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Reported by Al-Varney Rogers [email protected]
The travel ban, which was placed due to the controversy surrounding the alleged missing L$16 billion, begs more questions than answered.
Legal luminaries have argued that the action of the City Court to issue a travel ban without a main action before the court was illegal.
“The travel ban is an ancillary action which should grow out of a main action but there was no case before the court to have acted on an attachment,” a legal expert, who asked not to be named, told this newspaper.
Acting upon the directive and order of J. Kennedy Peabody, Stipendiary Magistrate of the Monrovia City Court, Temple of Justice, the Ne Exeat Republica of September 28, 2018, issued by this honorable Court for the purpose of preventing Hon. Charles Sirleaf, Cyrus Badio, Mounir Siaplay, and Mussah A. Kamara from leaving the bailiwick of the Republic of Liberia is by order of court revoked and lifted otherwise other by this court.
The above-named persons are therefore at liberty and free to leave the Republic of Liberia to foreign parts to attend official business of the Central Bank of Liberia.
Few days ago, the Executive Governor of the Central Bank, Nathaniel Patray, read a press statement announcing that the Bank could account for every cent of the alleged missing L$16 billion. He also asked that the names of his subordinates, who had been barred from leaving Liberia be removed from the list.
“Records from Crane Currency of Sweden, which was contacted to print the money, show that Crane delivered L$15.5 billion through the Freeport of Monrovia and the Roberts International Airport between 2016 and 2018; and that all these monies were logged by the CBL and delivered into the reserve vaults of the CBL.”
Governor Patray’s statement drew angry reactions from many concerned that the bank was pre-empting the investigation.
This was further bolstered a few days later when the investigative team set up by President George Weah complicated matters by stating that there was no need for international assistance to probe into the missing money.
Support Independent Journalism
Your support helps FrontPage Africa continue delivering independent, credible, and impactful journalism. Every contribution strengthens our ability to investigate, inform, and hold power accountable while keeping quality journalism accessible to our readers.
Support our journalism or subscribe to receive the latest FrontPage Africa stories and updates.
