Monrovia – Following FrontPageAfrica’s investigative report about Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LIBTELCO) Managing Director shoddy investment of US$225,000 in a Casino in Central Africa Republic, Sebastian Muah has, according to reliable sources step down his post.
Report by Lennart Dodoo – [email protected]
FPA has authoritatively gathered that the embattled LIBTELCO boss resigned his post as he faces credibility issues over his alleged investment despite his blatant denial.
FrontPageAfrica has not been able to independently verify his resignation, but sources say his resignation is to safe his face amid glaring facts published by FPA about his investment in CAR.
However, same information was also reported by the Liberia News Agency late Wednesday evening.
Sources within LIBTELCO informed FrontPageAfrica that Muah tendered in his resignation to LIBTELCO Board of Directors on Wednesday, January 11 citing the exhaustion of two-year term he had promised to serve at the entity. Our source could not, however, state details of Muah’s resignation letter.
Muah had been in boiling waters since FPA published details of his investment in a casino in Bangui, raising concerns about his source of funding and possible acts of corruption.
The FPA probing of his allege investment in CAR also unearth his lack of loyalty to country after admitting through email exchanges that he has no home in Liberia despite serving the current administration since 2008.
After the FPA article, Muah, on Friday January 6, arranged a hasty press conference in a failed attempt to assassinate FPA’s stellar and impeccable reputation.
Without providing any actual evidence to substantiate his allegation of extortion by FrontPageAfrica, the embattled LIBTELCO Boss proved further his insincerity by displaying a pro forma invoice he had requested from FPA for a series of publication he had wanted done with regards to some previous and planned activities of LIBTELCO.
It did not come as a novelty to FPA that Muah displayed this very pro forma invoice during his press conference, claiming that such was an invoice issued him by the Business Manager of FrontPageAfrica, Mrs. Kadi Coleman-Porte, for payment in order for the newspaper to withhold publication of his alleged investment in CAR.
Muah’s argued why would a newspaper issue an invoice in the name of LIBTELCO for an issue that has nothing to do with the Corporation but its Managing Director who is an individual and an official of government?
Surely, this suggests that Sebastian Muah, perhaps, has been using money from the coffers of LIBTELCO to carry out clandestine and covert ops. Whoever demands bribe and leave a paper trail to that effect?
According to sources, Muah’s resignation to the LIBTELCO Board of Directors comes as a result of his bitter responses to the FPA inquiry about his share in the casino, but our source was not clear if he was pressured to resign by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf due to the damning report by the newspaper.
Muah’s Failed Smear Attempt
Despite refusing to admit to his shady financial dealing outside of Liberia, Muah opted to labeled FPA as an ‘extortionist’, seeking US$100,000 from him to cover up the story.
“Late October I got an email from Mr. Sieh asking me that he had news that I had casino business in CAR and I told him if he had information go and publish it.
On November 8, Kadi Porte the paper’s business manager came to LIBTELCO and told me that I have this stuff that I need to talk about.
She came into my office and we had a conversation – I told her it was a false story but I asked her given that this story is true what do you people do?
And she said we have to kill this story.
“Now mind you, they are indicating that I spent US$250,000 and they wanted US$100,000. She gave me an invoice that I needed to pay eight times,” he alleged.
“The President sent my information to the Minister of Justice and Rodney Sieh received the same letter to call us for meeting to focus on the issue of extortion.
The battle line, member of the press, is that somewhere in the work we do, for me, it has to be about country.
“If Sieh has all the evidence that I stole money and invested in another country, It makes sense to put forth the evidence.”
“This is a case of failed attempt to take money from me. I don’t do money business like that,” Muah said.
“I have been budget head for several years and been audited. I have never been accused of taking money. “
“Just for clarity sake so that it doesn’t go unanswered there is no iota of truth in what was published but a situation of somebody wanting money for work that was not done.
Mr. Sieh if you have documents that show that I stole government money to another country, please bring the documents.”
“We will go to the Ministry of Justice. We will go through the case.”
But FrontPage Africa reacted at a press conference when Mrs. Porte challenged Mr. Muah to produce his evidence.
Said Mrs. Porte: “I met Sebastian on November 8 according to my pro forma invoice. And he wanted some publication on some jobs he had done with LIBTELCO and put on a screen with a lot of stuff that he said he had covered, a lot of things he said he had done and places he said he had covered and nobody is aware of those work so he wanted the public to know and he wanted it in the papers.
My advice to him was that it would be done in color [the publication] because in that way people would see what you’re talking about and we came up to an agreement – I don’t know anything about US$100,000 that I heard from other guys today. It was US$30,000.00 contract and it was 15-15,” the FPA Business Manager said.