By Grace Q. Bryant
The former chairperson of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), Edwin Kla Martin has been cleared of accusations linking him to the illegal publishing of former President George Weah’s assets declaration to the public.
An investigation conducted by the LACC found no evidence that Martin was responsible for the leak as reported by Montserrado County District 9 Representative, Frank Saah Foko who raised the concerns about the breach of confidentiality surrounding public officials’ assets.
Martin, who now leads the Assets Recovery Task Force, had been accused of sharing Weah’s assets declaration on social media, which would have violated the confidentiality requirements of public officials’ assets.
LACC’s current chairperson, Alexandra Zoe confirmed the findings of the investigation during her appearance before members of the House of Representatives yesterday, during its extra sitting.
According to her, their investigation revealed that there was a leakage of asset declarations of some officials of the government two to three years ago, thereby involving former Commissioner James Verdier.
She said, “We found that the former Chairperson James Verdier had requested the asset declaration of five officials of the government who were in his possession and those names are in his possession as former Chair of the LACC.”
Cllr. Zoe noted that Cllr Verdier is the one who may have leaked Weah’s assets declaration forms when he requested five former government officials form in 2019, including former Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, Nathaniel McGill, Samuel Tweah and Jefferson Koijee.
He noted further that the investigation further revealed that the email between the former chair and the assets declaration officer was released for assets verification, adding “We would like to clarify that the LACC is prohibited from releasing asset declarations for officials who have not authorized it.”
