By Precious D. Freeman
Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice on Wednesday, January 31, 2023, arrested and detained four former LISGIS Directors, including Wilmot Smith, former Director for Information and Coordination for Economic Crimes.
Smith, together with the Director General, Prof. Francis Wreh; the Deputy Director General for Administration, Lawrence George, and the Controller, Dominic Paye, were charged with economic sabotage (fraud on the internal revenue of Liberia, misuse of public money), theft, and or illegal disbursements and expenditure of public money.
Others include misapplication of entrusted property, forgery, and counterfeiting unlawful rewarding of public services, unlawful compensation for existence in government matters, and criminal conspiracy.
They were subsequently released after they filed property bond in value at US$5 million.
Interestingly, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, which is the lead prosecution in the case, is considering to challenge the US$5 million property bond.
According to the LACC, between the period 2019-2022, the amount of US$1,795,0000 was transferred to LISGIS account with account number USD 6100064362 at the Eco-bank Liberia Limited, and could not be accounted for, and that there have been several suspicious transactions of the said account.
Additionally, it is alleged that contrary to relevant provisions of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commissions (PPCC) and fraud on the internal revenue of Liberia authorities, the defendants awarded contracts to several companies and failed to withhold taxes as required by law.
