Bragging about misusing public monies has finally caught up with the Weah-led government as three top senior officials have been nipped for rampant and persuasive corruption thereby being slammed with financial sanctions and visa cancellation.
The US Treasury Department designated the Minister of State, Nathaniel McGill, National Port Authority Director Bill Twehway, and Solicitor General Syrenius Cephus because according to them, these individuals have been directly contributing to acts of corruption in the country.
According to the report, Weah’s Chief of Office Staff during his tenure in government bribed business owners, received bribes from potential investors, and accepted kickbacks for steering contracts to companies in which he has an interest.
The report further stated that McGill has manipulated public procurement processes in order to award multi-million dollar contracts to companies in which he has ownership, including by abusing emergency procurement processes to rig contract bids.
He is accused of credibly being involvement in a wide range of other corrupt schemes including soliciting bribes from government office seekers and misappropriating government assets for his personal gain.
He has used government funds allocated to other Liberian government institutions to run his own projects, made off-the-books payments in cash to senior government leaders, and organized warlords to threaten political rivals.
McGill has received an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered and regularly distributes thousands of dollars in undocumented cash to other government officials for government and non-government activities.
McGill is being designated for being a foreign person who is a current government official who is responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in. corruption including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
While the current Solicitor General and Chief Prosecutor of Liberia Cephus is said to have developed close relationships with suspects of criminal investigations and has received bribes from individuals in exchange for having their cases dropped.
Cephus is said to be working behind the scenes to establish arrangements with subjects of money laundering investigations to cease investigations in order to personally benefit financially and shields money launderers and helps clear them through the court system and has intimidated other prosecutors in an attempt to quash investigations.
Cephus is also on records of utilizing his position to hinder investigations and block the prosecution of corruption cases involving members of the government and stands accused of tampering with and purposefully withholding evidence in cases involving members of opposition political parties to ensure conviction.
Cephus is being designated for being a foreign person who is a current government official who is responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
The current Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), Twehway is on record for orchestrating the diversion of $1 .5 million in vessel storage fee funds from the NPA into a private account.
Twehway is also accused of secretly forming a private company to which, through his position at the NPA, he later unilaterally awarded a contract for loading and unloading cargo at the Port of Buchanan.
According to the US inter-agency investigation, the contract was awarded to the company less than a month after its founding and that Twehway and others used family members to obfuscate their own involvement in the company while still benefitting financially from the company.
Twehway is being designated for being a foreign person who is a current government official which is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources or bribery.
The report which has spread as a wide fire and greeted with comfort by the citizens is that rather than seeking ways to fight corruption for the betterment of Liberia, these individuals have been placed on sanction for consistently advancing corruption within the government, to the detriment of Liberia and all Liberians.
The Treasury Department determined that these three officials engaged in corrupt acts, and they are now subject to U.S. financial sanctions and visa restrictions and that this decision of the United States Government does not take lightly because corruption is not a light topic.
Liberia’s aged-old failure to thrive which is likened to a newborn child who fails to achieve standard growth benchmarks has posted the country among the poorest countries worldwide inspite of its green natural resources and wealth.
Releasing the United States Secretary of the Treasury decision which derived from the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to place sanctions on three government officials, Ambassador Michael A. McCarthy said corruption steals from the poorest, it blunts or negates the impact of all development projects, it defeats initiatives before they are even launched, and it raises risk and uncertainty to drive away foreign investment.
Ambassador McCarthy speaking to some media stakeholders yesterday at the Embassy said that after rigorous inter-agency investigation, the Secretary of the Treasury placed those sanctions which are against individuals and not against the country, the party, or the Weah-led administration.
McCarthy stated that because the sanction is against individuals and not the country, it is his hope that the government will act or play its part in ensuring that corruption is counter as President Weah promised in his inaugural speech that public monies will not be found in one’s pocket and assured that the sanctions take effect even out of government against the named public individuals.
The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (GloMag) only existed since 2017 therefore Amb. McCarthy stated that no previous Government of Liberia administrations could have had individuals sanctioned under such Act apparently in an attempt to clarify those who continuously make those political comparisons.
He said what was found is that Liberia’s government leadership has too often acted in ways that erode the effectiveness of anticorruption efforts, rather than acting as true partners and bolstering these efforts and pointed out that the worsening corruption situation has resulted in a greater number of U.S. officials publicly calling out Liberia.
Meanwhile, the Department of State Spokesperson said, “These designations reflect our commitment to implementing the United States Strategy on Countering Corruption, and it is our hope that they will help Liberia chart a different course forward.”
However, the US Ambassador said the decision does not exclude others from potential future sanctions even though full accountability in Liberia can only come from Liberians themselves but reminded that acts of corruption take resources from citizens, undermine public trust and threaten the progress of those who fight for democracy.
He forewarned that yesterday’s actions are one of a series of actions taken to combat corruption in line with the U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption and in that strategy, two of the four main objectives touch on the effort to reduce corruption.
The first is to Foster Openness and Open Societies, which includes promoting government transparency and accountability; and the second is to Deliver Democratic and Security Dividends, which includes backing civil society, empowering marginalized groups, and defending free and fair elections and the Ambassador said clearly that corruption undermines these and other goals.
Meanwhile, he said the United States stands with all Liberians against corruption, and recounted that it is against that backdrop that since 2005, the State Department has committed more than $150 million to promote good governance and accountability in Liberia through our support of civilian security and justice sector programs.
He reminded how the funding enabled the Liberian National Police to develop a complaints and commendations system for the public to report good and bad policing and provided anti-corruption signage for courtrooms throughout Liberia; in July, the U.S. Embassy sponsored 10 Liberian judges and prosecutors to attend high- level anti-corruption training at our West Africa Regional Training Center in Accra, Ghana and from 2015-2020, through the Legal Professional Development and Anti-Corruption Program, USAID provided support to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) that helped build the capacity and strengthen the professionalism of LACC investigators and prevention officers.
The Ambassador further said some efforts from his government included revenue generated for Governance and Growth Activity to support USAID for the introduction of e-filing and mobile payment platforms at the Liberia Revenue Authority and as well as minimizing contacts between tax officials and taxpayers, these initiatives reduced corruption risks and increased domestic resources.
He also highlighted the Embassy and USAID trainings for Liberian journalists and media organizations in order to disseminate accurate information, promote government accountability, and conduct in- depth reporting that can shine a light on corruption as examples to short list the many activities the US Government is undertaking in Liberia to counter corruption.
