Liberia’s former Finance Minister under former President George Weah, Samuel Tweh, indicted for corruption and financial profligacy last Monday. He was previously sanctioned by the US government over similar charges
Abubakar Hashim
A warrant of arrest has been issued to Liberia’s former Finance Minister, Samuel Tweh, former NSA boss, Jefferson Karmoh, State Prosecutor, Nuenati Tuan, FIA boss, Stanley Ford and the FIA accountant, Moses Cooper.
They were all indicted on Monday for fraud, corruption and financial maladministration in the George Weah government.
Former Finance Minister, Tweh, was previously sanctioned for corruption by the US government. He had denied the allegations, saying they were politically motivated witch hunt”.
The Weah government which came on the heels of of popular support, particularly from the youths, was deeply plagued with allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement.
When President Boakai assumed power in January, he promised to tackle corruption frontally.
The five indictees were all charged with “economic sabotage, illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money, criminal conspiracy and other financial charges”.
The court in Monrovia eventually issued a warrant for their arrest.
Former Finance Minister, Tweh and FIA boss, Stanley Ford, are currently at large, Police are yet to know their whereabouts and are yet to be arrested, while former NSA boss, his accountant and State Prosecutor, Jefferson Karmoh, have been arrested. They were unable to meet bail terms and were subsequently detained in Liberia’s central prison.
Upon assumption of office last January, President Boakai declared his assets and pledged 40% of his salary to the treasury, as a sacrifice to his nationalistic instincts to salvage a decrepit economy he inherited.
Liberia is a resource-rich country but plagued with an alarming rate of poverty.
It celebrated its 177 independence anniversary last week.
* Abubakar Hashim is the News Magazine West Africa Bureau Chief, based in Sierra Leone