Boimah Engineering Incorporated (BEI), a Liberian-owned construction company, has publicly accused Ecobank Liberia Limited hiking a loan it borrowed from the financial institution nearly 20 years on.
By Emmanuel Weedee-Conway
Speaking at press conference held Monday, September 7 in Monrovia, the company revealed how it became a victim of a “non-performing loan,” due to a hiked interest placed on a borrow it made in 2007 from Ecobank.
Reading from a 26-attachment press statement, the Chief Executive Officer of BEI, John Kpehe Boimah, challenged Ecobank and parties involved to refute a single fact contained in the documents.
The news conference was held barely two days ahead of a national conference on Non-Performing Loans by the Central Bank of Liberia.
The BEI CEO indicated that the statement is intended to provide insight on why many loanees are at most times incompliance.
For him and his company, the conference poses to be a “public relations charade” unless it confronts the acts of “predatory lending” and “regulatory complicity.”
The Loan “Swells” From $140,000 TO $351,164
According to BEI, the dispute began in July 2007 when it secured a US$140,000 loan from Ecobank Liberia to purchase a Mobile Batch Plant and Mixing Truck for a DAI/LCIP infrastructure project on the Sanquin Diversion Channel in Sinoe County.
In one of the attachments, the loan was backed by a contract and a commitment letter from DAI’s Chief of Party guaranteeing payment directly to BeI/Ecobank.
The Bank then handled the transfer to the manufacturer.
Following the transaction, he narrated that the relationship turned adversarial when it sought to consolidate its loans.
Upon requesting a bank statement, the company discovered a balance of US$342,000 more than double the original loan, he recounted.
Later, he revealed that the Bank claimed that BEI owed US$351,164.
In Attachment #07, the firm argues against the “restructured” loan of US$156,918.05 for the same equipment, plus a separate US$73,000 loan also listed for financing the acquisition of a cement mixture truck and a large batch plant.
“If the US$140,000 loan was for the equipment, what was the purpose of the US$73,000 loan? If the US$156,918.05 was a ‘restructuring,’ why was the original loan not extinguished?” the statement asks. BEI calls it “double and triple posting of debt to manufacture a fraudulent obligation.”
The Missing $10,000 Check And Alleged Asset Transfer
BEI also flagged a US$10,000 advance payment from the Ministry of Public Works issued as Check #725079 to “Tropical Reserve Entrepreneurial Enterprise” (TREE), a company owned by Cllr. Peter Amos George. Boimah explained that the check was cleared on September 24, 2008, but the equipment was never delivered.
Despite repeated requests to the Ecobank Manager Director at the time, Kola Adeleke, the bank refused to provide a copy of the check.
The company further alleges that then-Ecobank MD Adeleke met BEI at a used car lot on Capitol Bye and proposed transferring the mobile batch plant to SSF, a foreign-owned construction company, to clear its (Boimah Engineering) obligations” but it rejected the proposal.
“CBL Didn’t Do Us Well At The Time”
In what he described as an act of “willful blindness,” the company narrated how it sought help from the Central Bank of Liberia between 2013 and 2014.
The timeline cited includes letters to then-Governor Dr. Mills Jones on May 23, 2013, and multiple letters to the Supervision Unit headed by Musa A. Kamara.
But in the face of all of these communications, it received no substantive action for the regulator of the country’s financial system.
BEI Sues CBL, But Bank Claims No Knowledge
For failing to compel Ecobank to provide proof of the alleged debt, the Company moved to sue CBL, but the bank’s legal response, indicated that it had “No knowledge to form a belief as to the truthfulness” of the accusations.,” even though BEI asserts that there were documented letters to the CBL’s own Supervision Unit.
“The CBL had the power to compel Ecobank to provide proof of the alleged debt. It did not. The CBL is not an independent regulator. It is a captive institution,” the statement reads.
Dumped By Our Lawyer
Most disappointingly, Boimah echoed how he was hit hard by his own legal counsel, who consented to a judgment against the company by ignoring the court’s subpoena.
Cllr. Bushuben M. Keita, whom he noted, was retained in June 2019, accepted a US$159,805 judgment against BEI in February 2020 without the company’s consent knowledge, and without its authorization to accept such ruling.
The construction firm points out that the promised written decision never came, and especially at the time the lawyer (Cllr. Keita) was already heading to the airport for a travel.
Conflict Of Interest
The company further alleges a conflict of interest after the Commercial Court allowed Ecobank, the plaintiff, to handle garnishment of BEI’s salary through a personal Ecobank account.
In a separate criminal matter before Criminal Court “A” involving the missing $10,000 check, BEI contends that the court issued a Writ of Subpoena Duces Tecum to Ecobank (Attachment 020).
Twenty-six (26) Attachments
The 26 attachments to the press statement include the DAI commitment letter, loan restructuring documents, court filings, CBL correspondence, and subpoena records.
It challenged Ecobank to explain the multiple loan entries, CBL to explain its inaction, and the Judiciary to explain how a lawyer could consent to judgment without client approval.
Company Makes Six Demands
On the heel of the controversial situation, the company has made a six-count demand including a call for a Presidential independent commission of inquiry and
Legislative summons for the CBL Governor and Ecobank MD. Even though the previous managements are no longer at the respective institutions, he said administration is continuity.
The company also wants the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) to investigate Cllr. Keita and enforce the criminal subpoena by the court.
It also called for the Police/Ministry of Justice’s action for contempt. For the sake of transparency and accountability in the matter, BEI also called for the involvement of US Government, IMF and World Bank and as well as for a forensic audit by Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
Ecobank Taciturn On Allegation
When contacted, the Management of Ecobank-Liberia Limited through its Head of Marketing and Communications, Madam Ivy Fairley-Fahnbulleh, declined to response to the matter.
In a telephone conversation with this paper, the Ecobank communications chief requested the names of media institutions that were concerned and as well as copy of the allegations being levied against the bank.
All of these pieces of information were forwarded to her through WhatsApp.
She only responded with “Thanks.” Immediately, a call was placed to her again by this writer on behalf of him and other colleagues who were interested in the information. But the Ecobank Head of Communications promised to read the accuser’s statement and respond the following day. However, despite repeated calls and text messages to both her WhatsApp and regular SMS, she has neither answered her calls nor responded to the follow-ups by the different reporters, whom she had earlier promised to address.
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