Source: allafrica.com
16 July 2010
No matter how anybody considers it, corruption remains a major obstacle to government's efforts to pull Liberia's postwar economy out of the ditch - slow revenue intake due largely to institutional flaws and incompetence, and lagging donor pledges being the only other factors.
In view of these obstacles, many had thought that law enforcement agencies and the nation's finance regulators would devise safety measures to salvage the situation. But it seems they have been (are?) part of the problem as the latest investigation of the Liberia Anti-Corruption has revealed. The Analyst, reports.
LACC has recommended to the Justice Ministry in Monrovia to indict and prosecute six former and current public servants and the CEO of a foreign-owned import-export company for their involvement in 'corrupt practices' in various shady deals.
The recommendations were contained in two separate letters the Commission sent, Wednesday this week, to Justice Minister Cllr. Christiana Tah.
Those the Commission said it has found to be guilty of corrupt practices, which are tantamount to economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy, and fraud, were the former Inspector General of the Police, Col. Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown, and the former Deputy Commission for Administration of Police, Harris Manneh Dunn.
Others were businessman Prince O. A. Akinremi, owner of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company; former Finance Ministry Comptroller General, James Boker; and former Director of the Electronic Data Processing Section of the Ministry of Finance, Jenkins Yonly; and two physical auditors of the Ministry of Finance: Ms. Kaymah N. Zeon and Nebo Garlo.
After leaving office almost eight to nine months ago, the former Inspector General of the Liberian National Police (LNP) Col. Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown has appeared on the radar of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) for her alleged involvement in shady financial deals executed during her administration.
Because of that, the LACC wants the Ministry Of Justice to charge and prosecute the former LNP boss, her deputy for administration and businessman Akinremi for economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy and fraud in keeping with New Penal Code and Financial Laws of Liberia.
The LACC's call for the charge and prosecution of the former LNP boss and all stemmed from her involvement in alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories valued at US $199,800.00 by the LNP for use by the Emergency Response Unit (ERU).
According to a statement issued yesterday under the signature of Ben Kolako, Public Relations Officer of LACC, the Commission said it came to the decision to recommend the prosecution of Madam Sieh-Brown and her accomplices following months of sustained investigation into alleged procurement of uniforms and accessories by LNP for the use of the ERU during her administration.
"Findings obtained from the investigation conducted into the LNP/ERU Uniform Procurement saga," the LACC said, "showed that the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company...has no record of Import Permit Declaration (IPD) from the Commerce Ministry..."
The Commission said not only was the holding company unable to present the IPD for the items, but that also it did not have a pre-shipment record from the Bureau VERITAS Group of Company (BIVAC).
It noted further that its investigation revealed numerous irregularities surrounding the alleged procurement of the uniforms, which it said were never delivered.
The Commission said it has deemed it necessary to recommend that Madam Kaymah N. Zeon and Mr. Nebo Garlo, both physical auditors of the Ministry of Finance, be charged and prosecuted for economic sabotage.
The statement quoted the Commission as saying that its investigation discovered that the two internal auditors made and signed fraudulent entries in the books of records of the Ministry of Finance.
It said reports misrepresented the facts about the delivery of the ERU uniforms and accessories by the proprietor of the Ultimate Investment & Holding Company, Mr. Prince Akinremi.
Madam Sieh-Brown who served as police boss from 2006 to 2009 was relieved of her post by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for what the Executive Mansion at the time called administrative reasons, a carefully diplomatic phrase used very often by the presidency apparently to cover the shady deals of officials dismissed and/or transferred from one ministry to another.
Madam Sieh-Brown's administration was scarred by incessant criminal activities, most especially armed robberies that led to the injuring of several residents, thus prompting the public to call on the chief executive to dismiss her.
Though the president did not act as quickly as the public expected, she did so at her time of convenience and replaced her with Mr. Marc Amblard, who is serving in the capacity currently.
