Monrovia – The Third Judicial Circuit Court of Sinoe County has issued a Writ for the arrest of Senator Milton Teahjay who once served as Superintendent of the county and his then assistant for development, Thomas Romeo Quioh.
Report by Henry Karmo – [email protected]
FrontPageAfrica has reliably learnt that writ was issued at the behest of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), but Cllr. Augustine Toe, a commissioner at the LACC, could not confirm nor deny the issuance of the writ when contacted by the FPA.
The duo has been indicted for the commission of economic sabotage, misapplication of entrusted property and criminal conspiracy.
The General Auditing Commission in a 2013-2014 audit report of Sinoe County Development Fund (CDF) recommended that Teahjay, Quioh, PMC Chairman Bedjue Maccully should be held accountable for the US$215,880.00 unsupported payments.
The report outlines several financial improprieties allegedly carried out by Teahjay and his suspected cohorts while he served as Superintendent.
According to the GAC report, the Sinoe County Administration and Project Management Committee (PMC) received the total amount of US$500,000.00 during the fiscal years 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 from the Government of Liberia as County and Social Development Funds.
This amount included a funding of US$200,000.00 from the Government of Liberia as CDF during the 2011/ 2012 fiscal year and US$300,000.00 as SDF from NOCAL and Putu Iron Ore Mining Company, both of whom provided 50% each to facilitate social-economic development in Sinoe County.
The bank balance brought forward from 2010/2011 amounted to US$46,381.60.
Confirmation received from MOF on November 4, 2013, indicated that the amount of US$575,000.00 was disbursed to the Sinoe County Administration as CDF & SDF during the month of September 2013 after the end of the fiscal year 2012/2013.
According to the MOF, said amount was intended for the fiscal year 2012/2013, with the total amounting to US$1,075,000.00 for both Social and County Development Funds for the fiscal periods 2011/2012 and 2012/2013.
This created a difference of US$575,000.00 between the Sinoe County Report and confirmation received from the MoF.
However, analysis of the CDF and SDF bank statements, according to the GAC, showed that the difference of US$575,000.00 was actually received by the County Administration during the month of September 2013 after the close of the fiscal year 2012/2013.
For the periods under audit, financial activities and the conduct of the affairs of Sinoe CDF and SDF were marred by financial irregularities and significant control deficiencies for a number of projects undertaken by the County Administration and the PMC.
These irregularities and control deficiencies were made possible because the Sinoe County Administration and the PMC did not execute the CDF and SDF consistent with the contractual terms and conditions, the PPC Act of 2005 and 2010, the Budget Laws of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013, the PFM Regulation, as well as other regulatory frameworks, the GAC observed.
The GAC also observed that the Special County Development Council (SCDC) approved 74 projects, programs and other activities at the total cost of US$2,646,870.00 through two separate resolutions for the period under audit. But the Sinoe County Administration undertook 12 projects out of the 74 projects approved by the SCDC.
From the GAC’s physical verification of these 12 assumed projects and review of documents provided for the audit, it was observed that six projects were abandoned, two were ongoing [at the time], three were completed and one was inaccessible therefore, could not be verified due to bad road condition at the date of our physical verification in October 2013.
The GAC further noted non-adherence to the General Business Law of Liberia during the course of the audit.
A communication was sent to the Liberia Business Registry in order to obtain assurance that the requirements of the General Business Law of Liberia on the application for registered and legal businesses were complied with.
However, the confirmation received from the Liberia Business Registry revealed that six Sinoe CDF/SDF projects contractors were not legally registered businesses in Liberia and were awarded construction contracts totaling US$251,500.00 during the periods under audit.
Auditors also observed that Section 8(b), and Section 8(a) of the 2011/2012 and Section 9(b) of the 2012/2013 Budget Laws were ignored by the Sinoe County Administration. Payments in the total amount of US$23,059.00 were made for various purposes without reference to the Special County Development Council resolutions for the 2011/2012 & 2012/2013 fiscal years.
Review of Sinoe CDF/SDF contract documents noted that the ministries of Finance and Justice did not participate in the US$495,650.00 Greenville Electrification contract entered into by the County Administration and PMC on one hand, and the Trans Africa Trading Company. It was observed that this transaction is in violation of Section (10) of the PPC Regulations and Section 24, subsection 4 of the PFM law.
Similarly, the Sinoe County Administration operated four bank accounts for CDF/SDF without regard to the budget laws. A review of Sinoe County bank statements revealed that sixteen payments amounting to US$71,157.20 in the fiscal year 2011/2012 were made without evidence of payment vouchers. Also, 32 payments amounting to US$144,723 for the 2012/2013 fiscal year were also made without evidence of payment vouchers.
Analysis of documents submitted for audit revealed that the PMC awarded scholarships valued at US$20,170.20 to students from seven schools without management putting in place a policy for guidance in the process.
Also, during the periods under audit, the Sinoe County Administration failed to maintain a fixed asset register for assets acquired.
In addition, there was no evidence that the Sinoe County Administration adopted a policy on the acquiring and disposing of its fixed assets or adhered to the PPC Act on the disposal of fixed assets.
The GAC audit report further explained that The Sinoe County Administration received funding from three sources during the periods under audit.
According to the PMC Chairman, Bedjue MacCully, the County received the amount of US$200,000 from the Government of Liberia as County Development Fund (CDF) during the 2011/2012 fiscal period.
In the fiscal period 2012/2013, the County received US$300,000 as SDF from NOCAL and Putu Iron Ore Mining Company both of whom provided 50% each to facilitate socioeconomic development in Sinoe County.
The auditors sought confirmation from the Ministry of Finance as to how much money was disbursed to Sinoe County as County and Social Development Funds during the periods under review.
The Ministry of Finance through the former Deputy Minister for Expenditure and Debt Management, Angela Cassel-Bush in a communication dated 4 November 2013, informed the audit team that the MoF disbursed to Sinoe County US$500,000 in County and Social Development Funds during the fiscal year 2011/2012 and US$575,000 during the fiscal year 2012/2013 totaling US$1,075,000.00 for the periods under audit.
This created a difference of US$575,000.00 between the Sinoe County Report and confirmation received from MOF.
However, analysis of the CDF and SDF bank statements showed that the difference of US$575,000.00 was actually received by the County Administration during the month of September 2013, two months after the fiscal year 2012/2013.
In addition to funding received during the periods under review, a brought forward amount from the 2010/2011 fiscal year amounted to US$46,381.60 which was captured on the bank statements presented for review.
Thus, the grand total amount received by the Sinoe County Administration for the periods under audit, as verified from confirmation result and bank statements analysis amounted to US$1,121,381.60.
The auditors review of the February, March and April, 2013 County Resolution, observed that the total budgetary allotments of Sinoe County for the Fiscal year 2012/2013 amounted to US$1,024,000.00.
The breakdown of this amount included, a CDF of US$200,000.00 from GOL, US$525,000.00 SDF from PIOM, US$200,000.00 SDF from Africa Petroleum Block 8 & 9 and US$99,000.00 from Geeblo Logging Company.
However, confirmation received from the Ministry of Finance on November 4, 2013 indicated that the county received US$575,000 comprising US$200,000 as CDF and US$375,000 as SDF for the 2012/2013 fiscal year.
The GAC also observed that the amount of US$30,329.00 was expended by the County Administration and PMC to monitor and administer projects for the fiscal years 2011/2012 and 2012/2013.
The Special County Development Council (SCDC) approved a total of seventy four projects, programs and other activities through two separate resolutions dated June 1-2, 2012 and February 6 through April 3, 2013.
These projects, programs and other activities were targeted to be implemented at the total cost of US$2,646,870.00. Of the seventy four projects, programs and other activities approved by the SCDC, twelve projects were undertaken by the Sinoe County Administration at the total cost of US$986,049.65.
From physical verification conducted and review of documents provided us during the course of the audit, we observed that six of the targeted projects were abandoned, two were ongoing as at the date of our physical verification on October 15, 2013, three were completed and one could not be verified due to bad road condition.
The GAC: “From analytical review of the Sinoe CDF/SDF Financial Reports, we observed that the ending cash balance for 2011/2012 was US$9,415.00 and the beginning cash balance for 2012/2013 was US$16,864.85.
However, our review of the bank statements of the CDF and SDF Accounts maintained at the Ecobank and First International Bank revealed that the ending bank balance for the fiscal year 2011/2012 amounted to US$18,331.90 which should be the beginning bank balance for the fiscal year 2012/2013.
The disparity of the beginning cash balance of 2012/2013 and the ending cash balance of the preceding year rendered the PMC Reports incorrect and unreliable.”
The GAC, among other things, recommended that Teahjay, Quioh and MacCully should provide explanation for as erroneous ending bank balance of US$16,864.85 for fiscal year 2011/2012 instead of the actual ending bank balance of US$ 18,331.90 for 2011/2012.
Teahjay, Romeo Quioh and MacCully should perform timely reconciliation of the CDF/SDF bank accounts and provide same to the GAC for validation.