'Five Little Men' Transfer Over US$1M: Biggest Fraud Ruin Liberian Government 05/19/09 - Samwar S. Fallah CENTRAL BANK CONFIRMS: " want to confirm that indeed the amount US$1,171,751.00 was transferred from the Central Bank. The Transfer slip is dated May 6, 2009. The amount was posted to Eco Bank account #109135306220014 on May 8, 2009." Mills Jones, Governor, Central Bank of Liberia - What could be described as the one of the biggest if not the biggest fraud in the history of Liberia has been confirmed by the Liberian government with "five little men", accordingly undergoing investigation in connection to a long chain of transactions that ended up with the deposit of over US$ 1 million at a local Commercial bank, Eco Bank Liberia. The perpetrators, authorities say, attempted to withdraw substantial amounts but were thwarted and arrested by private security guards who later turned two of the five men over to state securities for investigation. The Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia Mills Jones declared Tuesday: “I want to confirm that indeed the amount US$1,171,751.00 was transferred from the Central Bank. The Transfer slip is dated May 6, 2009. The amount was posted to Eco Bank account #109135306220014 on May 8, 2009. The information we obtained from Eco bank on the account is as follows: It was a savings account; opened on April 22, 2009 in the name of one E-Jee Sirleaf. The Business address was United Mineral Company, the home address of the individual 18th street sinkor, occupation- accountant." Continued Jones: "The account history shows that the first deposit to that account was US$10 and that was made on May 4, 2009. I can also confirm that the transfer from the CBL was initiated by a letter supposedly written on the letterhead of the Deputy Minister of Revenue and supposedly signed by the three deputy Ministers at the Finance Ministry. Deputy Minister for Revenue, Deputy Minister Administration and the Deputy Minister for Expenditure. That letter had two attachments: one was a copy of a letter supposedly written to the Deputy Minister of Revenue by the President instructing the Deputy Minister to transfer the amount ofUS$1,171,751.00 which is paid by LPRC as corporate profit taxes to the account in Eco Bank that I just mentioned. This letter supposedly written by the President was dated April 1, 2009. The attachment was the Ministry of Finance receipt number 582231 dated March 31, 2009 issued to LPRC for the payment of US$ 1,171,751.00 in corporate taxes which was the exact amount that the letter asked to be transfer   to implement the court reform agenda at the LPRC”, Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) Governor Mills Jones narrated the over US$ million fraud at a press conference in Monrovia. Entire deal uncovered by Governor Governor Jones said the entire US$1 million deal was uncovered by him, upon his return to Liberia from a foreign trip on Friday, May 8, 2009, asserting that when he returned to office on Monday 11, while going through the files to acquaint himself of developments in his absence he came upon the letter addressed to him supposedly from Finance Ministry officials mandating that upon the directive of the President the amount in question be transferred. The CBL Governor explained that he turned to the attachments on the letter from the President to the Deputy Finance Minister for Revenue and he noticed that the letter appeared strange and therefore called for past letters written by the President. The letter supposedly from the President, the CBL Governor said was written on the Ministry of States for Presidential Affairs letterhead, something he described as usual for the president to write using such letterhead and then noticed that on the letter it was included “Vic please keep on file for Governor Jones’ office”, a name he said does not exist at the CBL but later leant that the name is that of an employee at the Finance Ministry. “BY then I was looking at the letter with great suspicion, the language did look like that of the president , the last paragraph of the letter for example read “determination of this amount as regards to expending in line with my reform agenda at the LPRC and other budgetary allotted area will be discussed when some technical issues are addressed”, I wonder how the present could write  in such a manner, I than focused on the signature and again comparing it with all of the letters I have received from the President, I was stunned as what I was going t and its implications”, Governor Jones narrated. 'Immediatedly called Mclain Governor Jones stated that when he asked whether the letter has been acted upon, it was confirmed that the money has been transferred as per the mandate of the letter. “I immediately called Dr. McClain and told him of my concern about a letter that was supposed to have come from the President. As I had suspected, I was informed that this was forgery. We then called Eco Bank to find out if the amount was still in the account. We were told that US$2,000 had been withdrawn from the Duala Branch. I ordered that the account should be frozen and we should look out for anyone coming to make withdrawal. The National Security Agency (NSA) following a meeting with the President was alerted about the problem. We later learned that someone did come that day to make withdrawal and was arrested”, the CBL Governor indicated. Incident In inexcusable-Jones Admits Governor Jones conceded that there are procedures at the CBL to detect fraud and the level at which the incident reached without being detected is inexcusable. “That this incident took place and reached the level it did is inexcusable. We have procedures in place that if followed should detect fraud. They were not followed. It is not acceptable that this Bank should rest on the shoulders of the Governor and just a few staff. The public sees progress being made in the banking system and the CBL itself; little is known how this progress has come about-the time and effort of a few, in the midst of a culture of nonchalance”, Governor Jones declared. Three Suspected CBL Culprits Governor Jones pronounced that the CBL has suspended all those involved in the execution of the transfer while investigation is going on and promised that afterwards appropriate administrative decisions will be taken. The suspended CBL employees Governor revealed includes Mr. Joseph Kollie Officer-In-Charge of the Banking Department, Mr. Jesse Koboi, Officer-In-Charge of the Domestic Banking and Mr. Alfred Kowbeidu, Accountant/Back Office Operations. Deputy Bank Governor, Ethel Davis who handled the letter in the absence of the Governor although was not stated that she is involved in the fraudulent act has been referred to the Board of Governor of the CBL for what they termed appropriate consideration. Ministry of Finance’s Version Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan at the press conference narrated the findings of preliminary investigation into the fraud and the position of his Ministry, naming two individuals as the prime suspects. Minister Augustine named two individuals, Richard Passawe and Marc Jusus Passawe as those who opened an account at Eco Bank Liberia Duala Branch, bearing the name E. Jee Sirleaf where an initial deposit of US$10.00 was carried out. “on the same day (April 22), a letter bearing forged signatures of three senior officials of the Ministry of Finance was sent to the Central bank of Liberia instructing the CBL to transfer the amount of the LPRC payment into the Eco Bank account”, Minister Ngafuan stated.   The Finance Minister explained that on May 11, the account holder, Richard Passawe, made his first withdrawal of US$2,000 from the Duala Branch of Eco Bank. “On Wednesday May 13, there were two cases of attempted withdrawals from the account. The first one occurred at the Paynesville Red Light branch where the suspects attempted making two withdrawals of US$8,500 and one US$9,000. The second attempt took place at the Vai Town Branch where Richard Passawe and Marc Jusus Passawe, accompanied by Siafa Kamara, tried to withdraw US$800,000. The two attempts were thwarted by the NSA and the culprits arrested”, Minister Ngafuan disclosed. Peabody recently suspended According to Minister Ngafuan, a suspended employee of the CBL identified as Mr. Gbotee Peabody has been identified as the mastermind of the fraud. “Peabody was recently suspended and is currently undergoing investigation in connection with the recycled checks scandal at the CBL. Investigation reveals that Peabody recruited Marc Jusu Passawe, who was recently suspended by the Ministry of Finance in connection with an on-going investigation into a forgery case at the Ministry of Finance. Peabody is said to have enticed Marc Jusu Passawe with a US$250,000 offer in exchange for Passawe’s expertise as a forger of documents. Marc Jusu Passawe has confessed to investigators that he forged the signatures of officials of the Ministry of Finance on the letter sent to the Central Bank in order to consummate the fraudulent transaction. Passawe then enlisted his brother (Richard Passawe) whose ID was used to open the fraudulent account in the name of E Jee Sirleaf. Alfred Kowbeidu is said to have been enlisted to facilitate passage of the fraudulent transaction through Central bank control measures”, the Finance Minister narrated. Minister Ngafuan further indicated that three staffs of the Revenue Data Capture and Reconciliation Unit at the Ministry of Finance have been suspended pending the conclusion of investigation in the fraud case. Granted that the explanations by both the CBL and the Ministry of Finance may be genuine, than the big question will be how could five little known individuals penetrate a big financial chain between the LPRC, the Ministry of Finance and the CBL and succeed in transferring more than US$1 million for close to month before discovery. In-depth look at US$1 million fraud in subsequent postings. FPA