‘No Money Missing’

-CBL Sets Record Straight, But…

By Jackson C. Clay, Jr.

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has disclosed that no money is missing contrary to reports in the public about a missing container containing over fifteen billion Liberia banknotes.

Addressing a news conference Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at the CBL headquarters in central Monrovia, CBL Executive Governor, Nathaniel Patray said the money was printed, brought into the country and placed into vaults of the CBL.

“The total amount of money printed and placed in the vaults of the bank was LRD15.5 billion for the period 2016-2018. This amount was verified from the CBL own internal documents and documents received from the Crane Currency of Sweden (the contracted printer),” Governor Patray told journalists at a news conference.

Executive Governor Patray indicated that this information was revealed following an internal assessment recently concluded by the new management team of the CBL headed by its Executive Governor.

Governor Patray asserted that the CBL has no records to show that monies printed under its authority have not yet been delivered into its reserve vaults.

He added “records from Crane Currency of Sweden (the contracted printer) showed that Crane delivered 15.5 billion Liberian banknotes through the Freeport or Monrovia and the Roberts International Airport between 2016 to 2018 and that all these money were logged by the CBL and delivered into the reserve vaults of the CBL.”

However, Governor Patray asserted that the CBL welcomes the establishment and expansion of the special investigative team constituted by President George Weah to probe circumstances surrounding the money which the CBL already has records on.

“The bank also welcomes the government’s decision to engage international partners such as the government of the United States of America, the African Union (AU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Economy Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It is our latest information that based on this engagement, the Government of Liberia and its partners are in the process of securing the services of a reputable international forensic Audit Firm to conduct a forensic audit of all flows of printed money between 2016 and 2018,” Governor Patray stressed.

Meanwhile, the CBL is asking the government through the Court to drop all writs placed on employees of the CBL regarding the investigation, noting that all employees of the CBL remain committed to cooperating with the investigation.