Liberia News: Three CBL Officials Charged

Liberia-On October 19, 2024, the Liberia National Police charged three officials of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) for allegedly stealing government funds and committing multiple offenses, including theft of property, economic sabotage, and criminal conspiracy.

The officials, identified as Yome W. Titus (43), Alfreda S. Lighe, Tarr Dicker, and another individual yet to be identified, were sent to court following their detention.

According to the police charge sheet, the case arose after CBL Acting Governor Henry Saamoi filed a complaint with the police on October 14, 2024, regarding a fraudulent transaction involving US$961,777.15 in government funds. The complaint was forwarded to the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) of the Liberia National Police for investigation.

The incident began when CBL authorities instructed their staff in the Accounting Pool to reverse an abnormal balance of US$1,379,391.42 from the CBL’s “teller thirty” account at the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Headquarters in Paynesville. The goal was to credit the Government of Liberia’s payroll for 2024 and debit the teller thirty account. However, three CBL employees-Titus, Lighe, and Dicker-allegedly transferred US$961,777.15 to a personal account (00521811046600102) at the International Bank Liberia Limited (IB), rather than following the prescribed procedure.

Investigators discovered that on August 1, 2024, William Grant Jlopleh, Director of Banking at the CBL, instructed the bank’s Risk and Compliance Department to investigate the abnormal balance. The investigation recommended that the CBL debit the Government of Liberia’s payroll account for US$961,777.15 and credit the teller thirty operational account with US$417,614.27.

Despite this recommendation, the three accused employees executed a series of unauthorized transactions, moving the US$961,777.15 through multiple CBL accounts before transferring it to the commercial bank account at IB. This action was in direct violation of the CBL’s banking procedures, which explicitly required the funds to be kept within the CBL’s internal accounts.

Further investigations revealed that the IB account, registered under the name “SQL Data Solutions Group Inc.,” with an address in Boys Town, RIA Highway, had been inactive from 2022 through 2023. The account was reactivated on August 6, 2024, just one day before the US$961,777.15 deposit. A withdrawal attempt was made the same day using a checkbook transaction, according to bank statements obtained through a writ of subpoena.

Investigators also found that the account had previously held US$120,000 between its opening in 2018 and August 2024, with multiple debits made by signatories, including Jongo Armah Chenoweth, a current CBL staff member in the Banking Department, who had previously withdrawn funds from the account in 2019.

After their initial court appearance, the defendants were released on bail after filing bonds through Sky Insurance Company. The case remains under investigation, with authorities expected to identify additional individuals involved in the fraudulent scheme.