Liberia: National Port Authority Suspends Its Pier Superintendent for Giving Detained Niko Ivanka Greenlight to Sail

MONROVIA – The National Port Authority (NPA) has, with immediate effect, suspended its pier superintendent, George McCay, for allowing the sunken vessel, Niko Ivanka,  to leave the Freeport of Monrovia without authorization. 

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, NPA public relations manager, Malcolm Scott, said the suspended pier superintendent allowed the vessel to leave unilaterally. “He was not authorized to allow the boat to leave the port,” Mr. Scott said.

Though Mr. Scott fell short of informing the media if the vessel was sea-worthy, when asked, he did say that investigation continues.

The ill-fated Niko Ivanka departed the Freeport of Monrovia a fortnight ago on its way to Harper, Maryland County; but off the coast of Marshall, Margibi County it encountered problems and sunk a few hours later. Eleven persons have so far been confirmed dead from the unfortunate incident. It’s still not known the total amount of passengers that were on the vessel.

Mr. Scott further informed the media that the NPA management remains engaged with the family members of the deceased that were onboard the vessel.

In another development, the NPA public relations manager disclosed that the management of the NPA has turned over two of its suspended staff members assigned at the port of Buchanan to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) after they admitted to creating fake bank accounts and embezzling over US$300,000.00. The two, the port of Buchanan’s managing director, Charles D. Gull McArthur, and chief statistician, Amara Kamara, are now undergoing further investigation.

“Our action to forward them to the LACC is the result and conclusion of our internal investigation in which Gull and Kamara admitted to carrying out numerous dubious financial transactions outside the Port’s normal financial procedures,” he said.

Scott disclosed that upon taking up their assignments at the port of Buchanan, the two suspects reported their first financial transaction, US$140,000.00, in line with the NPA’s financial practices and legal procedures, describing the deal as far as the funds placed in the NPA’s account.

However, he noted that after the first legal transaction, the two men opened a dubious account and transferred a little over US$300,000.00 without the knowledge of the NPA. “The account was made known during the investigation of the two suspects,” Scott pointed out. He said they confessed to opening a ghost account and deposited over US$300,000.00 without the knowledge of the NPA management.

Mr. Scott emphasized that the NPA will not condone financial misgivings especially in its effort to fight corruption and promote transparency and accountability at all times.