By Grace Q. Bryant
The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) Governor Aloysius Tarlue suspension is expected to enable government dig deeper into the recently released audit report from the General Auditing Commission (GAC).
Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah made the disclosure at the regular press briefing organized and held the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) in Monrovia on July 30.
According to Minister Piah, Governor Tarlue’s suspension is intended to allow him time to address the findings of the GAC audit report.
Minister Piah said that the President’s decision to suspend the Governor stems from a release for a compliance audit report by the GAC detailing significant financial irregularities at the CBL during the period from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2023.
He added that the findings highlight a range of compliance issues that affect the bank’s operations.
According him, the GAC observed that the CBL management exceeded it’s approved expenditure limits from Fiscal Year 2018 to 2022 by approximately $19.31 million.
The audit also found that the approved budget expenditure projections consistently surpassed revenue projections, indicating a pattern of deficit financing.
The crux of the saga was triggered as far back as August 2020 when Sapelle International Bank Liberia Limited (SIBLL), sealed a deal to take over the GN Bank Liberia Limited, a member of the Group N’doum (GN), headquartered Ghana.
That purchase was approved by the CBL recently to operate under the license as SIBLL; similarly, in January 2024, Global Bank Liberia Ltd, another struggling bank was taken over by Bloom Bank Africa (Liberia) Limited (BBALL).
During the acquisition of Global Bank, Bloom uncovered the pending suit between Global and businessman George Kailondo Oil and Gas company. The bank insisted they would not purchase due to the pending lawsuit, prompting the Central Bank to step in and sign an MoU.
In a bid to mitigate the losses during their purchase transactions, the CBL under Tarlue’s leadership went on to guarantee that it will cover some of the Non-Performing Loans and dole in millions to cover the losses on the FIB-GN Bank—SBLL loans.
Meanwhile, the reports said, there was no evidence of Procurement Policy at the Bank for fiscal Years 2018 and 2019 Management awarded contracts amounting to US$1.765.380.96 and US$2.272.707.95 for the FY2018 and 2019 respectively without evidence of an approved procurement policy and approved procurement plans.
The Procurement Policy adopted by the Board of Governors in May 2020 was no consistent with provisions of the PPC Act such as provision for procurement planning procurement committee. ete
There was no functional procurement committee evidenced by the absence of meeting minutes and periodic report.
There was no evidence of an annual procurement plan approved by PPCC for FY2018 FY2019, and Fy2022.
For FYs 2020, 2021, and 2023, it was further observed that there were some inconsistencies between the approved procurement plans and procurement activities executed at the entity and that there were also evidence of subsequent approval of unplanned procurement activities by the PPCC
There was also no evidence of periodic (quarterly and annual) procurement activities in the reports submitted to PPCC.
No evidence of application of the requisite methods (request for quotation, national competitive bidding, sole sourcing, restricted bidding, international competitive bidding,etc. where applicable
Under Tarlue’s watch, contracts amounting to US$11.085.373.89 were awarded and processed without evidence of competitive procurement methods. We observed no evidence of appropriate supporting documents such as approved bids, bid evaluation report and procurement
