Monrovia – Two separate lawsuits have been filed against two government ministries and several insurance companies for failure to account for over a million United States dollars allegedly collected as sticker fees from vehicle owners in the country.
One of the lawsuits has been filed at the Commercial Court at the Temple of Justice under the caption: Petition for accounting by the group refer to as the Association of Liberia Owned and operated Insurance Companies represented by its President Clemenceau Urey.
The other lawsuit has been filed to the Civil Law Court asking the court for an injunction and restraining order on the insurance companies linked to the missing funds to prevent them from holding leadership elections.
The lawsuits are filed against both the administrations of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance and other respondents including Mutual Benefit Assurance (MBA), Family Dollar Insurance Company, Accident and Casualty Insurance Company and the Palm Insurance Company.
In the petition for accounting, the petitioners alleged that from 2014 to present a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed for the collection of funds received for the sales of insurance stickers and contribution from insurance companies to enforce the compulsory insurance inspection exercise for the past three years.
The group is alleging that the money is yet to be accounted for by the government and the aforementioned insurance companies after many requests for audits and investigation of the funds received by the respondents.
According to the Association of Liberia owned Operated Companies, the MOU was signed by the Government of Liberia by and thru the Ministry of Transport represented by Tornolah Varpilah, former Minister of Transport and Amara Konneh, Minister of Finance who are referred to as GoL and the Association of Insurers in Liberia.
The petitioner further claimed that in accordance to the MOU, it was agreed by the parties that in order to ensure the safety, security and proper control of the insurance stickers and certificates, GOL was required to designate the Guaranty Trust Bank Limited as custodian of the stickers and certificates shall disburse the said stickers and certificates in accordance with instructions received from the Ministry of Transport.
According to the MOU, the proceeds from the sales of the insurance stickers and certificates should be disbursed as follows: GOL, US$6.00, VAPCO US$2.50, GT Bank US$1.00 and the Association of Insurers of Liberia US$5.50.
The petitioners claim each insurance company in Liberia has been paying the amount of US$2,000.00 since April 2015, which has not been accounted for.
Also, the petitioners stated that as stated in the MOU, it was required by the respondents to give periodic report on the status of the account with the GT Bank to ensure accountability, but said guideline was ignored.