LACC Report Indicts Tweah, Tuan, Forh, and Cooper On Money Laundering, Theft Charges
“That Cllr. Nyenati Tuan of MOJ, Mr. Samuel Tweah of MFDP, Mr. Stanley Forh of FIA, and Mr. D. M. Cooper of FIA misled, connived, and conspired to defraud GOL of US$6 Million be charged with Money Laundering,” Leaked LACC Investigative Report as uncovered by and in possession of Verity News
Verity News has uncovered a disturbing LACC investigative report on how senior public officials of the Weah-led administration allegedly misled, connived, and conspired to defraud the Government of Liberia by criminally transferring and withdrawing $6 Million U.S. Dollars while exercising their respective duties.
The latest discovery further justifies the entrenched extent to which public coffers were milked amid the blatant abuse of power over the past six (6) under the Government of President George Weah.
The investigation which was commissioned and conducted by the Monitoring and Investigation Department (MID) of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) between February and March 2024 invited eleven (11) Persons of Interest (PoIs) in connection to the alleged scandal to testify including former Solicitor General Cllr. Nyenati Tuan, former FIA Boss Mr. Stanley Forh, former FIA Chief Accountant D. Moses Cooper, former National Security Advisor Jefferson Karmoh, former Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs Samora Wolokollie, former Comptroller General Janga Kowo, Deputy Minister for Budget Tanneh G. Brumson, Deputy CBL Governor Nyemadi Pearson, CBL Governor Aloysius Tarlue, CBL Director of Banking William G. Jlopleh, and CBL Assistant Director of Banking Theophilus M. Lamin.
The LACC investigative report revealed that the Comptroller General, Mr. Janga Kowo, was instructed by Finance Minister Samuel Tweah to transfer LRD 999,700,000 on September 19, 2023 and US$500,000 on September 21, 2023. The letter that accompanied those transfers which was signed by Comptroller General Janga Kowo, Deputy Minister Samora Wolokollie, and approved by Minister Samuel Tweah stated that the over US$6 Million transfer (LRD 999.7M and USD 500K) was said to be for “National Security Purposes” even though no evidence of financing said operations was established in the investigative report.
The Deputy Minister for Budget, Madam Tanneh Brumson, testified and said that the FIA money transfer transactions only came to her attention when the FIA US$500k story was reported in the media. Based on that, according to Madam Brumson, she later noticed that US$6.2 Million plus was strangely captured in the Direct Debit column for FIA while referring to the budget evaluation report for Fiscal Year 2023.
Deputy Minister Brumson further stated that she had no prior knowledge or any participation in the said transaction, noting that said transaction did not go through the budget execution process. According to Madam Brumson, Direct Debit transactions are usually requested and processed by the MFDP through the office of the Comptroller & Accounting General by requesting to the CBL through a written communication.
For his part, suspended FIA Director General, Mr. Stanley Forth, said that the FIA received in its Operation Account the funds as mentioned in a letter dated September 5, 2023, from former Acting Justice Minister Nyenati Tuan and that the funds were withdrawn from the FIA account and turned over to unnamed members of the “National Joint Security Team”.
In a written testimony on March 24, 2023, the CBL Deputy Governor, Madam Nyemadi Pearson, testified that the CBL received a written letter of authorization to transfer money from the GOL Operation Accounts to the FIA Operation Accounts. She stated that the CBL holds the Government of Liberia (GOL) accounts and conducts banking operations on behalf of the GoL following official MFDP authorizations MFDP.
For his part, the CBL Governor, Mr. Aloysius Tarlue, testified on March 26, 2024, and said that it is a matter of policy whenever he receives GOL letters of authorization to effect a transfer of funds, said letter is directed to the Deputy Governor for Operations (DGO) who is responsible for banking operations based on the transfer of funds, and he did just that.
As almost person of interest mentioned in the investigative report seems to be distancing themselves or running away from the damaging US$6.2 Million Scandal in question, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) has moved ahead to indict four (4) alleged culprits on charges of criminal conspiracy, theft, money laundering, and criminal facilitation.
“That Cllr, Nyenati Tuan, former Deputy Minister for Codification MOJ, Mr. Samuel Tweah, former Minister of MFDP, Mr. Stanley Forh, Director General of the FIA, and Mr. D. M. Cooper, Finance Officer of the FIA in exercising their respective duties conspired to defraud the GoL by laundering public money in violation of Section 1, Part B.5 (withdrawal of public funds) of the PFM regulation be charged with money laundering, criminal facilitation, criminal conspiracy, aiding consummation of crime, and criminal facilitation,” the LACC Investigative Report concluded.
Furthermore, the report stated that the investigation did not establish any proof of documentary evidence such as instruction from the National Security Council or a letter of request from the National Joint Security or the FIA to Finance Minister Samuel Tweah for which Tweah approved and subsequently transferred funds in question to the FIA Operation Accounts.
According to credible informants or inside sources that confided in Verity News, the LACC has already submitted its findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Justice for the prosecution of former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, former Acting Justice Minister Nyenati Tuan, suspended FIA Boss Stanley Forh, FIA Chief Accountant D. Moses Cooper, and all those linked to this alleged financial scandal.
Who’s preventing the prosecution of the US$6.2M Case at the Ministry of Justice in exchange for a US$200k Kickback?
From Verity’s inside sources at the Ministry of Justice, a 200k kickback deal has been reached between the four (4) alleged culprits and some high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Justice. The MOJ source confirmed to Verity News that US$50k has reportedly been paid through the former Chief of Office Staff in the office of former Finance Minister, Mr. Cletus Noah, who delivered the cash to a designated contact at the Ministry of Justice. The source further confided that US$30k was withdrawn and paid from the Eco-Bank Account of former Finance Minister, Samuel Tweah, while US$20k was delivered in physical cash.
It can be recalled that in June of 2024, an unsealed MOJ indictment for Mr. Samuel Tweah and others was being rumored. The abrupt silencing of such an indictment and the protracted quietude of the Ministry of Justice raises concern and doubt about the commitment and honesty of the Boakai-led administration to fight corruption and hold past officials of government fully accountable for pillaging State coffers. Some political pundits have expressed grave concern pertinent to why the findings and recommendations of the LACC as submitted to the MOJ are not being implemented, but ignored.
