MONROVIA – At long last, the Government of Liberia (GOL), through the Ministry of Justice, has officially received autopsy reports on the four Liberian auditors who died under mysterious circumstances one after the other in the country.
It can be recalled that on Thursday, October 2, 2020, the lifeless bodies of the Assistant Commissioner for Internal Audit and acting Manager for Tax Payers of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) were found in a vehicle on Broad Street in Monrovia during the early morning hours.
Two days later, another auditor from the LRA, Mr. George Fahnboto, reportedly died in a vehicle accident around 72nd Paynesville, outside Monrovia.
On Saturday, October 10, the Director of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Emmanuel Barten Nyeswa was also found dead in his compound along the 72nd Boulevard, outside Monrovia at 2AM.
Following the mysterious deaths of the Liberian auditors, the government initiated the conduct of autopsies on the remains of the victims.
Dr. Benedict B. Kolee and Dr. Zoebon B. Kpadeh , who are employees of the Ministry of Health and the John F. Kennedy Medical Hospital respectively, were hired by government to conduct the autopsies on the remains of the victims.
The autopsies were conducted at the St. Moses Funeral Parlor on the Somalia Drive on October 18 and 19 respectively.
In a brief telephone chat with FrontPage Africa, Dr. Kolee disclosed that the conclusion and results of the separate reports were submitted to government, on Wednesday, November 11.
He disclosed that the reports were received by the Administrative Assistant to Justice Minister Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, Mr. Allen Dyue.
Dr. Kolee disclosed that though he does not want to let out the findings contained in the reports, evidences and facts which led to the deaths of the auditors were presented to the government.
“I presented the reports to the Justice Ministry this morning and they have it now. Justice Ministry is the prosecuting authority and they supposed to have a press conference to release the reports because, what we generated were evidences”.
“Transparent” reports
Dr. Kolee pointed out that the autopsies were conducted professionally and its findings are transparent.
Specimens of the deceased Liberian auditors were flown out of the country for advance “ancillary studies”.
Ancillary studies are defined as projects that involve the collection of new data directly from patients or from clinical investigators, or new biologic samples.
Analysis of existing data, existing biological samples, and the resulting publications are the purview of the Working Groups and the Publications Committee, and can be requested using the process of preparing and submitting an analysis concept proposal.
He maintained that all of the processes which led to the finalization of the autopsy reports were done in a transparent and professional manner.
“The Justice Ministry and the US team have access to the reports. We presented the facts, but anyone can refute the facts which we gathered and some that you may know about because you were in the room during the autopsies-you may not know the interpretation because you are not in the autopsy field”.
“If you have access to that report, you will see the conclusion and the results of the reports are very straight forward”.
When the release?
The release of the autopsy report to the public has been delayed.
The two Liberian pathologists promised the conclusion and release of the reports within 14 days after the conduct of the final autopsies on Fahnboto and Nyenswa on October 19.
According to Dr. Kolee, the release of the report remains the prerogative of the government, through the Ministry of Justice.
“The release of the reports is within the preview of the Ministry of Justice; we don’t want to preempt what they will be reporting on. But they have the outcome and the results”.
He continued: “I am planning to have a press conference to refute and provide clarifications to some of the allegations from Costa and those other guys. But I don’t want to preempt anything”.