Author: Wonderr K. Freeman, Attorney, CFCS

This is the final edition of the Government of Liberia officials auditioning for US Sanctions. In the previous two editions, I posit that this is one job I do with great dissatisfaction. But Liberia is being destroyed. And it’s no secret that those who are too busy destroying Liberia are the very ones running the affairs of state. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), and the Liberia National Police (LNP) are resigned to look the other way. They are beholden to the ruling clique(s). So, as a Liberian nonconformist, I take it upon myself to suggest some names of GOL officials who, in my opinion, meet all the criteria for US sanctions. This is necessary since the GOL competent authorities for law enforcement will not do anything. It’s not that the US sanctions are a panacea to Liberia’s justice inertia, but it sure is a welcomed relief from the current preference for absolute impunity. And for this reason, I will continue to call on the US government to use its sanctions tool to puncture the GOL impunity balloon.  

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 and former GOL officials meet all the criteria. 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/Past Top GOL Candidates Auditioning for US Sanctions

1. James Henric Pearson II, Director, National Security Agency (2018-2023)

On the NSA’s website – this is how they describe who they are:

National Security Agency (NSA) is an a-political government intelligence institution that is solely tasked with the gathering/collection, analyzing and dissemination of national security information for decision/policy makers including the President of the Republic of Liberia. They are supposed to be governed by the National Security and Intelligence Act of 2011.

The reality is that the NSA operates as if no Liberian law applies to them – not even the Constitution. In addition to abusing citizens and residents’ human rights on a regular basis, NSA agents think it’s their right to misuse and abuse GOL tax dollars by the millions. In post-war Liberia, that is the prevailing reality. So, understandably, the NSA has been the GOL favorite institution to funnel money for illegal purposes – under the presumption that they are not subject to audit. Even the current President, Mr. Joseph Boakai (aka Rescue-1), upon coming to power, commissioned an audit, only to backtrack week later. I can only surmise that his people told him “Chief, you too will need the NSA for your own [covert] “operations”. So, Mr. Boakai backtracked and has since made his peace with the NSA. Within the first nine months, Mr. Boakai himself would go outside of the Annual Budget to spend USD 2.5m on “covert operations” himself. This too is Liberia!

But how true is the claim that the NSA is not subject to audit or any due diligence? The writers of the NSA Act were under no illusions that the agency would self-regulate – not be subject to audit or other due diligence measures. This the false narrative created by politicians, including ex-President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. During her tenure (2005-2017), Mrs. Sirleaf had her son, Fombah Sirleaf, installed at the NSA as Director, and both mother and son aggravated the culture of sending tens of millions of dollars to the NSA to use without accountability. That was the UP Government 1.0 and 2.0. After the Sirleafs left the scene, Mr. George Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) decided to continue the NSA illegalities; in fact, they took the illegal activities into the stratosphere. But before I get into George Weah and CDC’s abuse, let read excerpts from the NSA Act (2011) regarding accountability, due diligence, & controls.

• Control Measures #1 – Section 6(f)
• The President shall appoint an Inspector General for the National Security Agency whose responsibility shall be to conduct inspections of NSA activities under the general supervision of the Director…The Inspector General’s shall report findings, conclusions, and recommendations of any internal inspection directly to the President with copy to the Director. This in indication number one that the President must exercise direct supervision of NSA activities

1. … The responsibility of the Inspector General shall include, but not be limited to financial audits of the activities of the NSA. The results of such audits shall be made available to the President and/or the Minister of Finance, in addition to the Director [NSA]. Where a report indicates any possible violation of law, the report shall be made available to the Ministry of Justice for further action, as necessary. This is the clearest indication that the NSA is not a self-regulating body accountable to no one (as commonly presumed); quite to the contrary, the law outlines the MFDP, MOJ and the Presidency as institutions that must provide oversight of the NSA’s activities – including internal audit and due diligence inspection.

• Control Measure #2: Section 11 (c.), Financial [Control]

[The NSA] is authorized to develop and maintain its own procurement, accounting, and auditing system, separate from those of the general government. Its accounts shall be audited yearly or, as circumstances may require, by an auditor appointed by the President.

• Control Measure #3: Section 8, The NSA is subject to Legislative Oversight

• Control Measure #4: Section 11 (c.), Officers and employees of the NSA are subject to the Code of Conduct Act (2014)

The cited legal provisions in the NSA Act show the NSA is subject to varying controls – namely:

1. Internal audits,
2. Financial audits
3. Inspector General’s inspections/reports
4. MFDP’s supervision
5. MOJ reviews, and
6. Presidential directive and control

Notwithstanding the clear dictates of the NSA Act; in practice, it’s a whole different ball game. The NSA is the wild west of GOL illegalities – a criminal syndicate, and a money laundering tool.

This brings me to my point. Continuing the culture of money laundering and other illegalities, Mr. George Weah and his NSA Director, Mr. Henric Pearson II took it upon themselves to operate the NSA in total disregard for the above-cited NSA law, other relevant GOL statutes and, sadly, in disregard also to the Constitution of Liberia. Using “covert operations” as the pretext, Mr. Weah put at least USD 122m at the disposal of his NSA Director and agents, without regards to the Annual Budget law or the NSA Act[1]. And between the periods of 23-Februry-2018 and 11-December-2023, Mr. Henric Pearson II, working in collaboration with and under the direction of Mr. George Weah, then President of Liberia, made at least 227 individual transactions in which they took bags to the CBL, stuffed it with cash and simply walked out the Bank’s door. Not one cent of that money was ever accounted for. This is an average USD 20.4 million per year over the course of six years. In the process of furthering their criminal conspiracy, Mr. Weah and his spy Chief, Mr. Pearson II violated a whole slew of statutes, including the Anti-Money Laundering Act and related regulations (2012-2021). The pair violated the Code of Conduct Act (2014), the NSA Act (2011), the PFM Act (2009), the PPCC Act (2005-2014), amongst others. The President, Mr. Weah, who had a direct statutory oversight of the NSA, chose to participate in the unlawful conduct.

The extent of the depravity of the NSA’s conduct is now public knowledge – thanks to an audit of the CBL accounts (2018-2023) conducted by the General Auditing Commission (GAC). As I noted earlier, neither the MOJ/LACC nor the LNP will act. The President also will not act. For our leaders, this illegality is just another welcome addition to Liberia’s long history of impunity. That’s why I am recommending to the US government to sanction the below persons who bear direct culpability for the illegal acts of the NSA – and they are:

i. Mr. Henric Pearson II, former Director NSA, 2018-2023

ii. Mr. George M. Weah, former President of Liberia (2018-2028)

2. Trokon Roberts, Director, Executive Protection Services (2018 – 2023) 

The Executive Protection Service (EPS) provides protection for the President and other high-ranking officials of the GOL. It is the successor agency to the Special Security Service (SSS), originally legislated under the Executive Law, Title 12, sub-chapter C, §2.40[2]. As one of the many security services of the Liberian government, the EPS is subject to every other financial law that other similar situated agencies are subject to. Under the George Weah presidency, the EPS operated in much the same manner as the NSA. On any given day, the EPS would have its agents go in person and cash check over the counter. Both Mr. Roberts and Mr. Weah ignored every financial control measure, including Annual Budget law, the FPM law (2009), the PPCC law (2005-2014), the Anti-Money Laundering law and related regulations (2012-2021). As far as the conspirators were concerned, the EPS was a “security agency” and as a “security agency” they were entitled to spend millions of dollars in taxpayer’s fund and never every having to account for their actions. With this mindset, and similar to the way Mr. Weah and Mr. Pearson II operated the NSA, Mr. Weah and Mr. Roberts plundered the state’s resources to the tune of USD 26 million. Mr. Weah has not accounted for this money. He justifies his action as “covert operations “and “presidential immunity”.

Ordinary common sense should tell any law-abiding citizen that if you receive government money, you must file a report – after the event or after the purchase. But Mr. Roberts and his boss, Mr. Weah, think that “covert operations” and “presidential immunity” trump the laws of Liberia. They have also never submitted to any financial audit of the EPS. Over the course of 175 transactions, Mr. Weah and Mr. Roberts siphoned at least USD26m (2018 – 2023). As with other such agencies, there has been no accountability for their illegal activities, even though their conduct was highlighted in the CBL Audit (2018-2023) conducted by the GAC. The MOJ/LACC/LNP will take no action. Their standard practice is to look the other way. Accordingly, these individuals meet all the requirements for US sanctions.

1. Mr. Trokon Roberts – former Director, Executive Protection Service
2. Mr. George M. Weah – former President of Liberia (2018-2023)

3. Mr. George Weah – and his Agents at the Ministry of State (MOS)

George Weah was directly responsible for activities at the Office of the President which is supported by the Ministry of State. Much like the previous agencies (i.e., NSA, EPS), Mr. Weah didn’t even think twice about similarly directing staffs at the MOS to write bogus checks to individuals in his grand corruption scheme. The President’s agents at the MOS were just another flank in his relentless looting of the Liberian treasury. Using agents from the MOS, Mr. Weah went to the CBL on 139 occasions and wickedly, unlawfully and criminally withdrew a total of USD 21.6m. George Weah has yet to account for this money. His contention is that “all the money went for “covert operations”. Since the CBL audit report was made public, the MOJ has seen it, but they don’t see any violations of law or criminal conduct. So too has the LACC and the LNP. With all our national authorities failing to act in keeping with their constitutional and statutory responsibilities, it’s clear there is no likelihood that George Weah and the rest of the scumbags, will ever face justice in Liberia. Consequently, the requirement for international action is met. These are (1) top-level government officials who have (2) circumvented the institutions of the state toward criminal ends and (3) have enjoyed and continue to enjoy impunity for their criminal conduct. The only logical conclusion is for the US government to impose sanctions on ex-President George Weah and all his criminal associates.   

Table 1: George Weah “Covert Operations” Criminal Racket – 2018 – 2023

Ex-Pres. George Weah’s “Covert Ops” CRIMINAL RACKET (2018-’23)	AGENCY ACRONYM	Total number of ILLEGAL Cash Withdrawals	Total Value of ILLEGAL Cash Withdrawals
National Security Agency	NSA	227	122,326,215
Executive Protection Agency	EPS	175	25,887,069
Ministry of State/Office of the President	MOS	139	21,654,310
Financial Intelligence Agency	FIA (aka FIU)	31	8,941,577
GRAND TOTAL cost to the state		572	178,809,171

CHART 1: George Weah “Covert Operations” Criminal Racket – 2018 – 2023

GAC Audit of the Central Bank of Liberia (2018 – 2023)

George Weah’s “Covert Operations” Rush Hour

• FROM September 5, 2024 TO December 11, 2024
• The Last 100 Days
• 46.7 million USD total CASH OUT

Table 2: George Weah “Covert Operations” Criminal Racket – the Last 100 Days

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[1] The NSA Annual Budget Averages USD 10 – 15m per annum. How they are able to draw down cash to the tune of USD 20m per year and 122m over (2018-2023) is the question that Mr. Henric Pearson II and Mr. George Weah needs to answer.

[2] The EPS establishment act could not be located prior to completing this article. However, as a security agency; however, the EPS is subject to similar financial controls as the MOSL, LNP, MOJ, FIA etc.