Monrovia – FrontPageAfrica has uncovered an investigation conducted by the Joint security Investigation Board of the Ministry of Justice holding several officials including the Senior Pastor of the First United Methodist Church on Ashmun Street, Rev. Dr. Julius Y.Z. K. Williams liable for more than US$20,000 theft.
The other officials include the Church’s former accountant, Wilfred Freeman and former Finance Officer, William Boayou.
The Joint Investigation Board, in its finding issued on May 9, 2019, revealed that the church’s former Accountant, Wilfred Freeman, “planned and executed the criminal acts and should be charged with fraud, theft of property and forgery, while the Senior Pastor, Rev. Dr, Julius Williams and former Finance Officer, William Boayou be charged with “contributory negligence and administrative ineptitude for knowingly refusing to provide their individual respective supervisory roles as administrator and accountant.”
Their actions, the Joint Investigation Committee said, created the opportunity for the commission of the financial injury to the church and all of them should be forwarded to court for criminal prosecution.
Excerpt of the committee’s recommendation: “That the nature of this case is criminally oriented, hence, we strongly recommend that the accused, Wilfred Freeman, the accountant, who planned and executed the criminal acts should be charged with fraud, theft of property and forgery, while Rev. Dr. Julius Y.Z. K. Williams and William Boayou be charged with contributory negligence and administrative ineptitude for knowingly refusing t provide their individual respective supervisory roles as an accountant and administrator which actions created opportunity for the commission of the financial injury to the church, all be forwarded to court for criminal prosecution.”
Genesis of the Scandal
According to the investigative report, a letter of complaint dated September 1, 2017 was sent to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Liberia, Cllr. Frank Musah Dean by the church’s lawyer, along with an attached internal financial audit report.
The audit report, dated July 17, 2017 cover the fiscal year January 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017, which was prepared and submitted by Yama L. Bowah, held Wilfred G. Freeman and William C. Boayou liable for misdirection, misapplication and theft of US$20,770 and L$464635.
Minister Dean, through the office of Col. Farfini B. Kamara, the Joint Security Coordinator, ordered the Joint Security Committee to conduct a full scale comprehensive criminal investigation into the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) letter of complaint.
The Joint Committee, in its findings, reported that defendant Freeman admitted and confessed to the commission of the allegations against him, but persistently accused the Church’s Senior Pastor, Rev. Williams.
The investigation further established that US$20,770 and L$464,635 were not deposited into the Church’s account at the International Bank (IB) Liberia Ltd, and the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI).
It further, that the Pastor’s memo showed that several financial transactions were held without the signatures of the financial secretary and treasurer of the church.
The Joint Investigation Board in its findings, revealed that the investigation discovered “nine pieces of fake deposit slips of LBDI and IB, in the midst of 23 slips that were used to cover their thievery acts and also intended to justify their criminal deals, some of which formed parts of the slips attached to six pieces of Pastor’s Memo received.”
Key Parties’ Accounts
FrontPageAfrica contacted the accused parties and other witnesses via text messages and phone calls, but did not get response from any of them up to the time of publication.
However, FPA delved into the report of Joint Investigation Committee and highlighted the testimonies of key parties including the accused persons and witnesses who assisted in the investigation.
Wilfred G. Freeman’s Accounts
The Joint Investigation’s report quoted the principal accused person, Wilfred G. Freeman, as saying that the allegations against him began in early January 27, 2017 when the Church’s newly appointed Treasurer, after the first Sunday in January accused him of not stealing the January First Sunday’s collection of US$1,105 and L$34,445. An investigation was conducted and he was held liable.
“The Senior Pastor requested the key of the office and asked me to leave the office and go home, and at the appropriate time they were going to call me to work,” Freeman explained.
Freeman furthered that he was later suspended indefinitely for his failure to respond to the audit report, and few days later, he responded to his suspension that he was innocent and did not know about any audit.
He alleged that one of the main reasons he was not invited during the audit is because the Senior Pastor (Rev. Williams) did not want him to present a file containing several well-arranged receipts and promissory notes of money the Senior Pastor took on Sundays.
He alleged that at one time Rev. Williams took away US$5,000 given to the Church by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as part of her yearly financial contribution.
Rev. Dr. Julius Y.Z.K. Williams’ Accounts
The Senior Pastor of the FUMC, Rev. Dr. Julius Williams denied the allegations, and said it is Freeman’s intent to tarnish his reputation.
“I refute the allegation of Mr. Wilfred, former Accountant of the First United Methodist Church of Monrovia that he used to give me money from the weekly offering which was meant for deposit.”
William Boayou’s Testimony
For his part, the former Comptroller of the FUMC told the investigative panel that he was innocent. Boayou explained that he left for sick leave to Guinea and upon his return, he met Freeman, his junior staff, performing his (Boayou) job.
Because of his condition, he said the Church told him to work twice a week, and during that time, he did not handle cash or affix his signature to any financial documents.
According to Boayou, he learned about Wilfred Freeman’s alleged malpractice when the discrepancy in the Church’s bank transactions was discovered by Sylvia Scott Urey, who is credited for unearthing the scandal.
Sylvia Scott Urey’s Testimony
Sister Sylvia Scott Urey, as referred to in the committee’s report is credited for leaking the alleged long standing corruption in the FUMC.
In her testimony, she explained that a rally was held on the first Sunday in January 2017, and the following Sunday, she discovered that the financial record did not captured the actual money raised during the rally.
This led to an internal investigation that held the Church’s Accountant, Wilfred Freeman liable and was suspended.
Based on Madam Urey’s discovery, a further investigation was conducted and based on the findings, the Church decided to hire external auditors who discovered that money had gone missing from the church over the past years.
The audit, according to the Investigation Board, found Wilfred Freeman liable and Rev. Julius Williams as his accomplice.
Dorsla Farcarthy’s Accounts
Mr. Dorsla Farcarthy, Sr. served as the Chairperson of the Finance and Stewardship Committee of the FUMC. According to him, upon his appointment, he soon found out that there was no ‘Terms of Reference (TOR)’ for his staff and no handover notes from any predecessors.
“When I took over my assignment, I observed that there was no procedure in place to govern and manage the finance of the church. I also observed that the church was in a huge debt that needed to be resolved,” he explained.
“I observed that the requests came from the Senior Pastor (Rev. Julius Williams) office with checks attached for payment. I equally observed that there was limited participation of the Church leadership in decision making when it came to finances. I also observed huge gaps in financial reporting and observed no procedure in place on other issues regarding assets and procurement.”
He furthered that there was no policy decision regarding payments to church employees, adding he noticed that money collected in the past were left at the disposal of the old team to deposit and no check and balance to authenticate whether the right thing was being done.
With the assistance of the finance team, Mr. Farcarthy told the Investigation Board that he decided to put in systems to address the lapses, but met stiff resistance from the Senior Pastor.
“This reform was heavily resisted by the Senior Pastor, Julius Y. Z. K. Williams and few others on the Council and created outburst every time between him (Rev. Williams) and the finance team. There were occasions we were threatened with suspension and dismissal because we wanted to do our job the right way,” he explained.
“It reached a point the finance team was determined to do its job faithfully and not to yield to any form of intimidations or threats from anyone. This only escalated the already simmering tension that existed based on disagreements on serious financial policy issues. In the end, I was suspended by the senior pastor for upholding integrity and accountability along members of the team.”
Mr. Farcarthy, in his testimony, said he later resigned after he was told in a leadership meeting by few members that they could no longer work with him.
Joint Investigation Board’s Findings & Recommendations
The Joint Investigation Board in its findings, revealed that the investigation discovered “nine pieces of fake deposit slips of LBDI and IB, in the midst of 23 slips that were used to cover their thievery acts and also intended to justify their criminal deals, some of which formed parts of the slips attached to six pieces of Pastor’s Memo received.”
For Freeman, the board stated that he “finally did not only admit to the misapplication and misdirection of the funds belonging to the First United Methodist Church, but also confessed to the commission of thievery acts in which the fake bank slips were presented by him, but rather admitted and confessed to the financial malpractices discovered as contained in the audit report covering the period January 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017, and that his act was induced and supported by senior Pastor, rev. Dr. Julius Y. Z. K. Williams, who promised to defend him in the case of any discovery of these criminal acts.”
As an administrator, the investigative panel added that “Rev. Williams is aware of the existent vacant positions being created either by sicknesses and or death and that leaving it open has a propensity to cause serious financial damage, choose to do so. Mr. Williams is also in the know of the existent financial policy guidelines being placed so to provide adequate financial control mechanism with the sole intent to predominantly curtail the imminent provision of theft.”
It furthered that “despite all of the bureaucratic bottlenecks created by the Church for check and balance, Pastor William and William Boayou deliberately reneged on their individual responsibilities to accomplish their selfish aim.”
In the midst of all these qualified and competent employees and members of the noble church, the board added, “yet Pastor Williams stubbornly and glamorously choose not to fill in the gaps simply because he has his own ulterior motive, one of which is being demonstrated here, but unfortunately for him, is being detected and unearthed by Mrs. Sylvia Scott Urey, the newly elected Treasurer.”
What Has The Church Hierarchy Done?
In spite of the Joint Investigative panel’s recommendation, FrontPage Africa has gathered that the Church’s hierarchy has not taken any step to prosecute those liable of the alleged corrupt acts.
This, our investigation gathered, is causing disenchantment among some members of the Church, and they have begun expressing their disappointment to the church’s hierarchy and calling on it to act.
A letter written to Reverend George D. Wilson, Chairman of the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (LAC/UMC) by Daniel T. Fassa, a member of the FUMC, called on the Rev. Wilson to ensure the full implementation of the Joint Security Investigation Board.
Speaking to FPA, Mr. Fassa explained that his communication was written to Rev. Wilson prior to the LAC/UMC convention in Ganta in this year, but to his dismay, nothing has been done.
Instead, Fassa said, the Board of Ordained Ministry recommended the reappointment of Rev. Julius Williams as Senior Pastor of the First United Methodist Church, flagrantly ignoring the Committee’s recommendation.
Reverend Wilson did not respond to an FPA inquiry when contacted via phone and text messages.