By Mabinty M. Kamara
Liberia’s President George Manneh Weah has been forced to suspend three of his senior officials named in a corruption report by the United States Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The president acted immediately after the three, Nathaniel McGill, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and the Chief of Staff, Sayma Syrenius Cephus, the Solicitor General and Chief Prosecutor of Liberia and Bill Twehway, Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA) were designated for sanction by the OFAC for their involvement in ongoing public corruption in Liberia.
The US Ambassador to Liberia, Michael McCarthy, speaking to a select group of media managers and editors at the US embassy on Monday 15th August, expressed hope that President Weah would do the right thing in the aftermath of the sanctions, noting that he will not tell an elected president what to do but that he was confident that the president knows what was best.
President Weah, according to a report by FrontPage Africa, a prominent local newspaper in Liberia views the allegations as grave and ordered the deputies of the accused officials to take charge during the period of the suspension.
The officials were designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.
“Through their corruption, these officials have undermined democracy in Liberia for their own personal benefit,” said the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Treasury’s designations today demonstrate that the United States remains committed to holding corrupt actors accountable and to the continued support of the Liberian people.”
The report alleged that during his tenure in government, McGill has bribed business owners, received bribes from potential investors, and accepted kickbacks for steering contracts to companies in which he has an interest.
It added that he also 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.
“McGill is credibly accused of 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,” the statement reads in part.
It added: “McGill has received an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered. McGill regularly distributes thousands of dollars in undocumented cash to other government officials for government and non-government activities.”
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 has worked behind the scenes to establish arrangements with subjects of money laundering investigations to cease investigations in order to personally benefit financially. He shields money launderers and helps clear them through the court system and has intimidated other prosecutors in an attempt to quash investigations. Cephus has also utilized his position to hinder investigations and block the prosecution of corruption cases involving members of the government,” the statement reads
It added that he was also accused of tampering with and purposefully withholding evidence in cases involving members of opposition political parties to ensure conviction.
Bill Twehway on the other hand is alleged to have orchestrated the diversion of $1.5 million in vessel storage fee funds from the National Port Authority into a private account.
“Twehway secretly formed 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. The contract was awarded to the company less than a month after its founding. Twehway and others used family members to obfuscate their own involvement in the company while still benefiting financially from the company,” the statement reads.
As part of the sanction, all property and interests in property of these targets that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. “In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons,” the statement reads.
It also added that even those that engage in certain transactions with the named officials may themselves be exposed to sanctions or subject to enforcement action.
Observers are now discussing the implications of this action for other countries in Africa.
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