Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
Monrovia – Just days after the accidental death of Matthew Innis, Deputy Director for Micro-finance in the Regulation and Supervision Department at the Central Bank of Liberia, FrontPageAfrica has learned of another mystery death, this time involving Mr. Kollie Ballah, driver of one of the trucks who drove some of the LD16 billion from the Freeport of Monrovia.
Family sources have confirmed to FPA that Ballah was killed instantly when his truck ran out of control while en route to Zorzor, Lofa County on Monday, February 11, 2019. “He used to drive the truck that carries Central Bank money to the different destinations; he knew a lot and was ready to tell the truth until his death in that fake accident three weeks ago,” a close relative to the deceased told FrontPageAfrica Thursday.
The family member says, Mr. Ballah’s relatives are suspicious of his death because his body does not look like an accident but rather a murder. The car was burned and he has no burned marks.”
But CBL sources, speaking to FrontPageAfrica on condition of anonymity said Ballah and another driver were transporting money to Lofa when the care somersaulted. The other driver, only identified as Gabriel was reportedly wearing his seatbelt but Ballah was not. “We were informed that he was driving recklessly prior to the crash,” the CBL source said.
Ballah, a driver and General Support Services staff was responsible for maintaining a pool of sanitized vehicles and professional drivers. He was also tasked with ensuring that all CBL vehicles are mechanically fit and report all mechanical problems for repairs.
As part of his Term of Reference, Ballah was responsible for ensuring that all damaged vehicles are timely repaired. Ballah is believed to be the one who drove one of the trucks with the local currency. Authorities say he might have an idea of where the truck routes.
Late Driver was Probed, on Travel Ban
Ballah, was one of 35 persons of interest the government investigated in connection with ‘missing’ containers and bags of money amounting to 16 billion Liberian dollars.
It can be recalled that last September, a man with the same name as Ballah was prevented from traveling to the United States because he was one of the 35 on the list.
Nuku Kollie Ballah, a senior staff of the Flomo Theatre Production Company was caught up in a case of mistaken identity after he was scheduled to board a flight out of Liberia for the United States of America.
At the time, immigration officials at the Roberts International Airport prevented Nuku Kollie Ballah from traveling on Tuesday, September 25 because his name was similar to that of Kollie Ballah, the CBL driver, who was on the list of those the government banned from traveling as part of the LD16 billion dollars saga.
Mr. Nuku Kollie Ballah, was traveling to attend his sister’s wedding in the U.S., but was told by immigration officials that they could not be sure of his identity; therefore they could not let him fly. Mr. Ballah was then taken back to Monrovia where he was subjected to spending a night in a holding cell at the Liberia Immigration Service office.
The revelation of the death of Mr. Kollie Ballah, comes which comes just days after the death of Mr. Innis who died mysteriously last Saturday night in an apparent hit & run accident.
Family sources told FPA that Innis had left his home on Saturday morning telling his daughter and other family members that he was going to work, which was not a regular Saturday routine for him. But when they didn’t hear from him for nearly the whole day, they tried to reach him via his mobile phone by 4 pm and couldn’t get him and never heard from him again until they heard that he had been involved in an alleged hit-and-run accident by 2 a.m. Sunday in his neighborhood around the 72nd Junction on the Somalia Drive.
A family member source: “By 2 a.m., we only heard a group of young men banging on our gate saying that the pappy had been hit by a car and his body is on the road. Before we got to the road, his body has been removed. We were told that the police had taken him to Stryker Funeral Home and the police was driving his car.”
Central Bank of Liberia sources, speaking to FrontPageAfrica on condition of anonymity said Ballah and another driver were transporting money to Lofa when the care somersaulted. The other driver, only identified as Gabriel was reportedly wearing his seatbelt but Ballah was not. “We were informed that he was driving recklessly prior to the crash,” the CBL source said.
This family source maintained that they don’t believe that Innis was involved in a hit-&-run accident but that he might have been murdered and his body dumped near where he lived. “In fact, Mr. Innis never stayed out that late. He was always home very early in the evening from work. He never stayed out up to 11 pm. His phone never goes off. But his daughter tried all throughout and his phone was continually off,” this family source added, insisting that Mr. Innis might had been murdered.
The death of both Innis and Ballah comes just days after the release of two reports into Liberia’s missing billions saga.
At least five persons, including the immediate past former Executive Governor of the Bank, Mr. Milton Weeks and the present Deputy Executive Governor for Operations, Mr. Charles Sirleaf, were picked up over the weekend by the Liberia National Police. Mr. Sirleaf is son of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who some believe seriously played a role in bringing the present Liberian government into power.
Reports Point to Discrepancies at CBL
The report by Kroll, the firm hired by the United States Aid for International Development(USAID) concluded that while its analysis of delivery documentation provided by the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) confirmed that new banknotes totaling LRD 15.506 billion were received into the CBL’s reserve vaults and that Kroll found no information to support allegations that a container of banknotes went missing, there were a number of discrepancies.
The report also raises concerns regarding the overall accuracy and completeness of the CBL’s internal records and identifies systemic and procedural weaknesses at the CBL, and identifies shortcomings in Liberia’s fiscal and monetary management processes that are longstanding and continue to the present day.
A second report by the special task force set up by President Weah also raised some issues with the CBL’s handling of the saga.
The Task Force observed that the principle of KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER (KYC) was not observed throughout the mop-up exercise thereby creating room for illicit exchange or money laundering. “A review of the report submitted to the investigation by the six (6) Teams responsible for the disbursement/exchange of the United States dollars with the Liberian dollars whom that some Foreign Exchange Bureau and businesses were not duly registered, while other businesses received cash without proper identification.
For example, report submitted by the Leader of Team 2, Mr. Kontar Richards, shows that there was no evidence of transactions with business entities, such as business registration document and address of these entities. There are several summary sheets in hand writing which do not have any indication that these vendors money and/or signed for it. Refer to Exhibit 43 for Kontar Field Report and Written Statement.”
The Task Force also reported: “Some businesses/institutions in the three categories mentioned above received lesser amounts then what was reported by CBL. For example, the Union Local Forex Bureau located on Carey Street received a total of US$5,500.00 on two separate occasions (US$3,000 on July 17, 2017 and US$2,300.00 on August 16, 22017) then what was reported by CBL in its report as the total amount received US$161,900.00 (US$103,720.00 on July 17, 2018 and US$58,400.00 on August 16, 2018). Refer to Exhibit 44 for Union Local Forex Bureau Administrator Response.”
The CBL, in a statement signed by Governor Nathaniel Patray, said in a statement this week. “It is important to note that neither the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, as Chairman of the TEMT, Hon. Samuel D. Tweah, Jr. nor any member of the TEMT was ever involved with the direct mopping operations.”