Author: Wonderr K. Freeman, Attorney, CFCS

This is one article that I feel awful writing about. It fills me with shame to write about my country – that the rule of law is not upheld, or at best, the law is applied in a discriminatory manner. It is very disheartening to write about my Liberia where crimes are committed with impunity, while the public’s only recourse is to await the US government’s regular sanctions.[1] It gives me absolutely no pleasure to be counted as a Liberian – a country that awaits American sanctions as the only remaining option to curb corruption. But I’m going to write it anyhow. I’m going to speak out anyhow. To me, it’s like the job of the hangman or the undertaker; somebody has got to do it. So, as a Liberian nonconformist, I take it upon myself to suggest some names of Government of Liberia (GOL) officials that meet all the criteria for US sanctions. Right now, in Liberia, and much like the recent past, Liberian officials are having a field day stealing the country’s meager resources. Of course, we have the Police (LNP), the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), and an Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), but they won’t act. The ingrained political culture is that ruling party bigwigs are untouchable. By looking the other way, the officials of our law enforcement and prosecution agencies “show their gratitude” to the ruling party for appointing them to such high-level GOL positions.

Qualifying Conditions for US Sanctions

The US government has many sanction programs, but when you synthesize them, they boil down to four conditions (at least in the case of Liberia). Looking at these qualifying conditions, it seems that many current Unity Party government officials meet all the qualifications. So far, from the nine recent sanctions already levied by the US government, any three of the four [qualifying] conditions below are sufficient to get one’s name included on the sanctions list.

1. Complicity in gross human rights abuse(s)
2. Complicity in acts of significant corruption 
   • Soliciting, Offering, and Accepting Bribes
   • Misappropriating state’s assets for personal gain
   • Influence peddling
   • Awarding illegal contracts and concessions
   • Offering contracts for kickbacks
   • Illegal salaries, benefits, and stipend
   • Blocking prosecution
   • Manipulating legislative processes and public funding
   • Pressuring anti-corruption investigators to halt investigations
   • Paying out undocumented cash to officials
   • Using GOL money to fund personal projects
   • Hindering law enforcement, destroying and/or tampering with evidence

3. Occupying a top-level government position (elected or appointed)

4. Unwillingness and incapacity of the Government of Liberia (GOL) to take meaningful action – to charge, arrest and prosecute alleged offenders

Current Top GOL Candidates Auditioning for US Sanctions

1. Central Bank of Liberia Executives (2018-2023)

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) is supposed to advise the Government of Liberia (GOL) on financial and economic matters in addition to a selection of the following:

1. Formulate and implement monetary policy and regulate the use of the Liberian currency
2. Promote a safe, sound, and efficient system of supervision of the financial services industry
3. Collaborate with relevant agencies of GOL responsible for enforcing anti-money laundering laws

Toward this end, the CBL hires hordes of economists, accountants, statisticians, and other policy analysts to ensure that the CBL is managed in the most financially prudent manner. However, between 2018 and 2023, that was not what happened. In fact, between 2018-2023, the CBL was run in the most financially reckless manner. In many instances, the CBL’s top executives engaged in a conspiracy of grand corruption and money laundering. Two of the top executives who bear the greatest direct administrative and criminal responsibility for the illegal acts (2018-2023) include:

1. J. Aloysius Operation – Executive Governor
2. Nyemadi Pearson – Deputy Governor, Operations

The pair have since been removed from office, but it seems that is how far the disciplinary actions go. However, I argue that this is not enough because, given what occurred at the CBL, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) need to do additional detailed financial crimes investigation to (1) determine the extent of the wrongdoing/violation of law and (2) to determine all persons who bear direct and tangential criminal culpability. But of course, the President of Liberia is, definitely, not taking any further action. All he wanted to do was use the audit report as a pretext to remove the governor and his deputy and replace them with his Foya people and political loyalists. Again, the MOJ and the LACC are also not going to act – for obvious political reasons. In essence, Liberia has been significantly harmed, and the GOL that should investigate and hold people accountable has refused to do so and continues to ignore these grave allegations.  

Some of the fraudulent activities that were uncovered in the audit

The CBL has the Amended and Restated [CBL] Act (2020) and multiple regulations. Additionally, the CBL, like many other GOL agencies, must abide by the Annual Budget Law, the Public Financial Management Act (2009), the Public Procurement and Concession Commission Act, (2005/2010/2014), the General Auditing Commission Act (2014), the Anti-Money Laundering Act (2012) amongst others. Notwithstanding the obligation as a GOL entity and notwithstanding its obligation as the core regulator of the financial services sector, the CBL executives (listed above) willfully and intentionally facilitated multiple activities that constitute a flagrant violation of our laws – some of which actions were prima facie criminal in nature. Here are some of the activities for which, if this had been in any other functional country, it would have led to swift criminal investigation and prosecution. However, in Liberia, these unlawful activities are just another day at the office.

TABLE 1: Unlawful Conduct Detailed in the Auditor General’s Report [CBL] 2018-2023

Detailed Violation	Amount	Commentary
Deliberate extra-budgetary expenditures	USD 19 m	Repeated continuous extra-budgetary expenditure for five years straight; Why? What more occurred?
Deliberate under-projection of revenues	USD 60 m	Repeated continuous under-projections of revenues for four years straight. Why?
Cashing corporate checks over the counter	USD 233k	Violation of CBL Regulation (CBL/SD/01/2006)
Dubious accounting entries to the GOL loan account	USD 381 m	GAC said these transactions were “incomprehensible and unsupported by documentary evidence.”
Dubious loans to financial institutions	USD 412 m	Given out loans to financial institutions WITHOUT evidence of repayment, no evidence of charges and no penalties for default, no evidence of attempts to collect on the loans. Is the CBL Father Christmas?
Dubious donations under the banner of corporate social responsibility (CSR) [2]	USD 1.08 m	Firstly, as a financial sector regulator, CBL has no business doing “charity”. Secondly, some of the recipients of the charity are regular GOL institutions that already had allocations in the national budget – they do not qualify as recipients of CSR. Institutions receiving these illegal payments include: LNP, Min of State, NSA, MCC, House of Representatives, Youth for George Weah etc.
Cashing GOL agencies’ checks over the counter	USD178 m	Every GOL agency should have a bank account from which they write checks. Why is CBL facilitating individuals coming to the bank stacking bags of cash and just walking out with it (e..g. NSA ($121m), Min of State ($21.6m), Financial Intelligence Agency ($2.9m). Why are GOL agencies drawing down millions of US dollars in physical cash? This is prima facie violation of Liberia’s AML laws that CBL should be regulating.
Dubious accounting entries to the General Reserve Account	USD 110 m	According to the GAC, these entries could not be traced to the CBL income statement and were not backed by any “evidence or supporting documents.” Why is the CBL engaged in “juju” accounting?
Failure to apply and or remit GOL taxes, Goods and Services Tax (GST), income tax, social security contribution	USD 1.9+ m	It is a criminal offense to deduct taxes and social security contributions from employees’ income and fail to remit them to the appropriation institutions (LRA, NASSCORP). CBL claimed they did, but the GAC said they provided no evidence of payments or remittances.
Third-party payment made to staff members of the legal department	USD 832k	How does one explain routinely giving staffs of the CBL USD 50k to draw down in cash and then go and make payment to outsiders? Whatever happened to writing the checks directly to people who performed the services? Worst yet, at least 90% of these “illegal payments” were made via the CBL’s legal dept – people who should know that their conduct was illegal.

There were also USD 11 million in multiple contract payments with “no evidence of contracts” among a whole host of illegalities and criminalities. Why was the National Security Agency (NSA), for example, able to walk into the CBL, stack up a total of USD 121m in cash in bags, and simply walk out of the Bank’s door? What happened to the Bank’s AML regulations? The list of illegalities is simply too much to sweep under the carpet. President Boakai thinks that removing these errant officials and replacing them with his “Kolahun” people and party loyalists is enough. The MOJ/LACC/LNP are doing nothing. They probably think no crimes have been committed. As far as I see, many of these acts may amount to crimes under Liberian law and probably anywhere else. The illegal acts have been committed by top-level GOL officials. Moreover, GOL seems unwilling and incapable of holding them accountable; hence, all the prerequisites for US sanctions have been met. As a matter of fact, the two executives who bear the greatest responsibility for these illegal activities are (1) J. Aloysious Tarlue, former Executive Governor, and (2) Nyemadi Pearson, Deputy Governor for Operations. The US Treasury would do the Liberian people a great favor by sanctioning Mr. Tarlue and Ms. Pearson.

• Liberian Senate Leaders (2018 – 2023)

The Liberian Senate represents one-half of the Liberian legislature. Its top officials include:

• Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence                          Senate Pro-Tempore
• Gblehbo Brown                                              Chair on Rules, Order and Administration
• Prince K. Moye                                               Ways, Means, Finance & Budget Chair
• Darius Dillon                                                  De facto Co-Pro-Tempore and Mansion Keyholder

The Senate co-legislates all Liberian statutes. In so doing, the Liberian senate cannot claim a lack of knowledge of any law. After blowing up USD 276 million in approved revised budgetary allocation, the Senate, under the leadership of Nyonblee-Dillon, Brown, and Moye are now claiming that they are not aware that Liberia had laws and institutions and that, going forward, they will now be “law-abiding”. To be more direct, after a damning GAC “system” audit in which GAC found the Senate culpable of violating all the financial laws and safeguards, the Senate Pro Tempore, Ms. Karnga- Lawrence wrote:

The details in the report highlight significant findings and offer recommendations to improve governance, financial reporting, performance, and accountability of the Liberian Senate. In Light of the findings and recommendations of the Auditing Commission, the Liberian Senate will adopt a series of financial policies, procedures, and internal controls that are essential to enhance transparency, accountability, and the overall effectiveness of our financial and governance operations.

… as it stands, this report is based on non-systemic financial regime spelt out in the report and as such its findings do not also conform to a breach of any system that was not followed at the Legislature.  

In essence, Senator Karnga is saying: “We did not follow the law, but we did not break any law.” Now, this is an oxymoron! This is a fitting double-speak typical of career politicians. As I said in the introduction, the Liberian senate cannot claim not to know the law since, but for the constitution, all other laws originate directly from the Legislature. As far as public financial management laws and accountability go, the Liberian Senate has a legal duty to abide by all of the following statutes:

TABLE 2: Systems and Controls under Liberia Law that the Senators Claimed to be Unaware of.

Statute	Year	Legal Obligations
Public Financial Management Laws & Related Regulations	2009	File regular reports Implement internal controls Undergo annual financial audits
Public Procurement & Concession Commission Act and Related Regulation	2005, 2010, 2014	File annual procurement plan Conduct public bidding and tenders
General Auditing Commission Act	2014	Submit to annual audits Submit to other such audits as determined by the GAC
Local Government Act	2016	Allow the local government officials to decide and manage county development funds
Annual Budget Law	Yearly	File regular reports Implement internal controls Undergo annual audits

These laws apply to all branches of the Liberia government, all ministries and agencies (MACs), all persons with direct operational and managerial responsibilities. The failure by anyone to follow these laws can lead to administrative sanctions and in other instances, criminal prosecution. Contingent upon the adherence to these laws, the Liberian Senate was allotted up to USD 90m between 2018-2023. Having received this money, they had a statutory obligation to spend same in keeping with law. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. They engaged in reckless pending, unlawful spending, extra-budgetary spending, and myriad other illegal acts, many of which, when convicted thereof would amount to felonies. From the GAC “system” audit, here is a short list of some of the troubling findings

TABLE 3: Finding from the Auditor General Special Audit of the Liberian Senate (2018-2023)

Detailed Violation	Amount	Commentary
Extra budgetary expenditure	USD 27m	The GAC captured USD 27 million as the difference between the MFDP books and what was approved. How in God’s name can the Legislature, which passes the budget and calls on MACs to stick to it, be the one to spend USD 27 million more than was allotted? Why? Worst yet, they are using their power to block further audits and investigations.
Non-preparation of Annual Financial Statements	USD117m	No one needs to be an accountant or economist to know that if you receive government money, you must file reports (i.e., monthly, quarterly, and yearly). The Liberian Senate, despite passing multiple laws on accountability, refused to follow the very laws they passed. This is an overt conspiracy to commit fraud – intentional non-recording to evade accountability.
Paying salaries in contravention of GOL-approved harmonized salaries	Undetermined	The Legislature passed the harmonization policy and required all MACs to abide by it. Then, the Senate proceeded as if there was no such thing as a [salary] harmonization policy in place.
Non-remittance of NASSCORP’s contribution	Undetermined	This is a potential criminal act. Deducting withholding taxes from an employee’s salary and then failing to remit same to the appropriate authority is ipso facto illegal. The Senate leader’s continued refusal to allow annual statutory audits and detailed criminal investigations amounts to shielding suspects, facilitating crime, and obstructing justice. This is like begging for sanctions!
Non-withholding and remittance of Goods & Services Tax	Undetermined	Similar to the non-remittance of NASSCORP contributions, any non-remittance of GOL revenue is potentially a criminal act. The Senators’ continued refusal to allow statutory audits and criminal investigations amounts to shielding suspects, facilitating crime, & obstructing justice. Again, sanctions begging!
Making payments for goods and services without evidence of contract	USD 4.2m	Again, this is a violation of all laws on government finance. Without contracts, there is no way to know if the services were performed (accordingly) or if the goods were supplied. USD 4.2 million is not “chicken change”. Yet, the Senate continues to block audits and investigations.
Third-party payments made to employees of the Senate	USD 369k	The Senate routinely gave several staff members USD 40-50k to put in a bag and spend in cash. Why put USD50k in a bag to spend in cash? What is the guarantee that the cash ever reached its intended beneficiaries? These are significant violations that require further investigation, but the Senate leaders continue to use their power to obstruct forensic audits and investigations.
No fixed assets registry	Undetermined	Again, this is an intentional conspiracy to deprive GOL of purchased assets. How in the world can the Senate fail to enter GOL assets in a registry? In addition to not recording, they are using their power as Senate Leaders to prevent and obstruct audits and investigations.

Under the GAC law, when the GAC comes across significant shortcomings – some of which may be criminal – they must call in the MOJ, the LACC, or the LNP (GAC Act 2014, GAC §5.8 [i.e., Suspicious Matter]). This is not a matter of choice for the GAC or the Liberian Senate. Many of the activities observed in the audit constitute grave violations of our financial laws and, in other instances, amount to felonies when proven. For example, violation of the procurement law, failing to remit tax deductions, and making payments without a contract… are all acts that could amount to felonies. The Senate leaders cannot just say: “Oh, it’s just a glitch; let’s move on.” There must be (1) full financial audits per fiscal year, (2) complete financial crimes investigations, and (3) prosecution and [assets] recovery where appropriate. This is not US law; this is Liberian law. Senators Karnga-Lawrence, Dillon, Brown, and Moye must stop facilitating crimes, obstructing justice, and shielding suspects. They must allow for yearly audits, financial crimes investigations, and prosecution – if that is what the evidence points to. To do otherwise is tantamount to screaming at the US government: Please sanction us!

Forgiving alleged illegal conduct

Under the Liberian constitution, only the President has the power to pardon, and only after a conviction (article 59). The Senate and House of Representatives have obstructed justice on two occasions by offering illegal pardons, thereby precluding the relevant GOL agencies from doing their work. This is a prima facie case of obstructing justice.

INSTANCE No 1:

When the Public Work Minister, Mr. Roland Giddings, admitted to awarding USD 22 million in illegal contracts, and said he was in a hurry to meet the president’s deliverables, the Senate was under a binding legal duty to call in the MOJ & LACC for a detailed investigation to determine if it was only administrative lapses or if crimes were committed. The Senate has no constitutional duty to investigate, prosecute or pardon. But of course, after blowing up USD117m without accountability, a USD 22m potential fraud seems like “chicken change” to them. But for the poverty-stricken masses of Liberians, this is not “chicken change”. This is serious money that can make a difference in their lives.

INSTANCE No 2:

When several members of the Senate raised suspicion of illegal changes to the budget law (2024), the Senate again failed to allow the relevant agencies of GOL to do their work. The Senate conducted its own investigation – essentially playing the role of the accuser, the accused, and the fact finder. Ultimately, they found a Finance Ministry official to blame the illegal acts on. However, under Liberian law (and probably worldwide), when someone illegally changes an official document, that amounts to a crime. To ignore this crime is facilitation. The unlawful pardon is an obstruction of justice. The Liberian Senate’s action to pardon this alleged crime is ipso facto illegal and unconstitutional.

In short, the Senate leaders abused their power, grossly mismanaged government finances, and then obstructed justice, and continues to block any and all attempts to conduct statutory audits, investigations, prosecutions, and assets recovery. Their actions, jointly and severally, are sufficient to land them on the US government sanction list.  The Senators who bear the greatest responsibility for the illegalities include:

• Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence                          Senate Pro-Tempore
• Gblehbo Brown                                               Chair on Rules, Order and Administration
• Prince K. Moye                                               Ways, Means, Finance & Budget
• Darius Dillon                                                  De facto co-Pro-Tempore

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[1] Over the past five years, the US government has sanctioned nine GOL officials.

[2

WATCH OUT FOR PART 3