The Director of the Executive Protection Service (EPS), Trokon Nathaniel Roberts, says, in as much as servicemen are not to engage in protest, it is a pity that personnel of the service are unable to get what justly belongs to them.
EPS, by law, is an elite force that protects VIPs, including the President, Vice president, and others, as deemed fit, but in recent times, its personnel threatened to carry out what they called a protest, to hold the headquarters of the Service hostage before the transition, if their 30 percent mutual aid benefit is not paid.
The EPS Development Account is a separate financial body established and solely operated by agents of the EPS and not the hierarchy of the entity, and this initiative started during the administration of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, when it was referred to as Mutual Aid and only renamed EPS Development Fund during the George Weah administration.
It has been a tradition for members of that body to make a remittance of their monthly salary, from which they can obtain loans for productive and provident purposes at a fair interest rate of 5 percent, which was intended to be distributed among them at the end of the first tenure of President George M. Weah, but that is now a far-fetched plan.
Contrary to their quest, reports have it that the fund for over 800 EPS officers have been mismanaged under the watch of James E. G. Helb, the son of former EPS Director, Victor Helb, who absconded Liberia after it was reported that the current Director, Roberts, had initiated an audit involving the Liberian National Police, the Financial Intelligence Agency, and the United Bank of Africa.
At a called press conference yesterday, Director Roberts explained that the initiative of deducting US$20 from their monthly salary began in 2018 and should have continued to 2023, but because he needed more information amidst the agents’ dissatisfaction, and his own curiosity, he mandated that the process be stopped for audit.
He said all this came to his attention when he took it upon himself to test the scheme by being a creditor, and because of how he got informed about his own deduction and when his payment would have elapsed, he decided to delve more by auditing, even though the initiative has a board and its signatories are not members of his leadership, but said his administration has persecutory power as per the fund’s own handbook.
According to Director Roberts, it was during the investigation he got to know that a parcel of land was even bought out of the money, which the heads of the initiative were reselling to agents.
Alexander T. Togba, the Aid Board Chair; Esther P. Chea, Chief of the Training and Firearms Division; Alex Togba (Co-Chair), Tony Morris (Credit Manager), James Paye (Financial Secretary), Joseph Weah (General Secretary), and Emmanuel Wesseh, Auditor to the Mutual Aid, were all custodians of the information being sought by Director Roberts.
According to the source, with all of those connected to the fund, it was not possible for one person to corrupt the money, but the brain behind the entire syndicate is Helb, who is said to have fled to neighboring Ghana.
According to Police of Chief, Prince Mulbah, Helb’s case has become a nightmare to the entire investigation because of the connections, as it is like using police to clamp police, thereby placing the entire audit in a ‘catch 22’ situation.
The Deputy Inspector General for Criminal Investigation, Intelligence and Interpol Affairs at the Liberia National Police (LNP), narrated, “We were informed by the Executive Protection Services that the entity has discovered some unusual transactions in the account of the EPS development fund. Names were called, and I did not sit at the Headquarters of the LNP, but made it possible to get further details on the matter.
After gathering information from the EPS on the matter, Officer Mulbah said the LNP established that James Helb has left Liberia for Ghana, noting, “James Helb has not been arrested, due to whatever reasons from our counterpart, we don’t know.”
Mulbah noted that the police will collaborate with its counterpart to ensure that Helb is arrested and brought back to Liberia for prosecution, and the LNP will also engage the court to subpoena UBA Bank to give information on how the money was withdrawn from the EPS Development Fund account.
He said they have liaised with Interpol through their connections in neighboring countries and have extracted suspects but the case with Helb needs no further investigation because the act of fleeing justifies the guilt of the suspect but expressed that in this case, it is just a nightmare for the police.
However, the financial syndicate within the EPS Development Fund is far deeper than what is being portrayed under the supervision of Director Roberts because even with the powers at his disposal, not much can be done without the aid of several parties and least to speak of their dislodgment by the emergence of a new government.
Accordingly, a total of US$300,000 was withdrawn from the account without the knowledge and consent of those contributing to the account, while an additional US$80,000 was withdrawn and also disbursed to another EPS personnel unaccounted for, coupled with the many discrepancies unearthed in the documents, including bank statements.
What is not clear is that it is reported that since the intervention of Director Roberts, 70 percent of the funds have been reclaimed and disbursed to the benefactors, but they are still left with 30 percent to be paid back to the agents, for which there is an agitation among the beneficiaries.
