U.N. Set to Renew Travel Ban, Assets Freeze Ban on Taylor-Era Officials
11/30/07 - Rodney D. Sieh
Jewel Howard Taylor made the list
New York_Amid several recent pleas to end the travel and assets freeze ban on prominent members of the Charles Taylor government, the United Nations Security Council is unlikely to lift the ban and will most likely to renew the sanctions regime and travel embargo and assets freeze imposed by resolutions1525 and1731, due to expire on 20 December, FrontPageAfrica has learned.
According to the latest forecast obtained by FPA late Thursday, Council members remain mindful of the fragile stability in the country and appear likely to retain the arms embargo as well as the travel and assets freeze,” according to the forecast.
The Liberia Sanctions Committee is expected to receive the report of the Panel of Experts by Thursday, Dec. 6, which is likely to assist in deliberations on these issues as well as renewal of the Panel’s mandate which also expires on 20 December. It is unclear whether the Council will also take up outstanding issues relating to review of the diamonds sanctions which were lifted in April,” according to the forecast.
Kimberley review, assessment on table
Some members may also want to review the Kimberley Process report, in conjunction with the upcoming report of the Panel of Experts, to assess progress and challenges in Liberian compliance with the KPCS. Members are not yet certain about the renewal of the Panel mandate since this largely will also depend on the contents of its report.
While the sanctions have remained in place, a few exceptions for temporary travels have been made in recent times, granting short travel passes to Edwin Snowe, Representative, 5th District Montserrado County, Senator Jewel Howard Taylor and Emmanuel Shaw.
Edwin Snowe Snowe who is on both the travel and assets freeze list was granted travel pass to Doha, Qatar in the Middle East to attend the sixth international conference on Restore or Renew Democracy around the World.
The council occasionally makes travel exceptions where the Committee determines that such travel is justified on the grounds of humanitarian need, including religious obligation, or where the Committee concludes that an exemption would otherwise further the objectives of the Council’s resolutions, for the creation of peace, stability and democracy in Liberia and lasting peace in the sub region;
Prior to his departure, Snowe, who is also Taylor’s former son-in-law, said he would use the trip to lobby for the lifting of the UN travel ban against him and other Liberians. “That’s not what I am going to Qatar, but I’ve been informed that the Secretary General might be there and other influential world leaders as well as the IPU (Inter-parliamentary Union) executives could be there. And there’s the opportunity to make the representation to have these sanctions lifted, not just on Edwin Snowe but on all other Liberians, I will take advantage of it and make the necessary representation on behalf of my people,” Snowe said.
Snowe, who won one of the seats in the lower house of parliament as an independent has over the past year sought to have both the assets freeze and travel bans lifted to no avail.
Chief Cyril Allen "Our denial is quite frustrating; it's beyond our own imagination,” the Representative told reporters early this year. "I've been accused by the UN for almost two years now. I was married to Mr. Taylor's daughter and we have a child. So if that's an ongoing tie, then it's unfortunate. There's nothing I can do about it. I have no regrets.”
Snowe has not been alone in his criticism of the restrictions. Chief Cyril Allen, the Chairman Emeritus of the former National Patriotic Party (NPP) has been more critical of the ban and has termed the ban as a mockery of human rights and the rule of law. “We have been accused, convicted and punished for five years without trial in a court of competent jurisdiction and this was done as a result of a resolution which has not even been ratified by any of the three national legislatures, since it was drafted,” he told reporters recently.
On March 16, 2004, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1521 (2003) concerning Liberia approved that all member states should take the necessary measures to prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of all such individuals, as designated by the Committee, who constitute a threat to the peace process in Liberia, or who are engaged in activities aimed at undermining peace and stability in Liberia and the sub region, including those senior members of former President Charles Taylor’s Government and their spouses and members of Liberia’s former armed forces who retain links to former President Charles Taylor, those individuals determined by the Committee to be in violation of paragraph 2 above, and any other individuals, or individuals associated with entities, providing financial or military support to armed rebel groups in Liberia or in countries in the region, provided that nothing in this paragraph shall oblige a State to refuse entry into its territory to its own nationals;
Grace Minor More recently, the council relaxed travel restrictions on Bong County Senior Senator, Mrs. Jewel Howard Taylor to afford her seek medical treatment in Johannesburg, South Africa. Howard-Taylor, former wife of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, now indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity currently caged in The Hague, Netherlands, was placed on the travel ban as being an associate. Emmanuel Shaw, another former Taylor aide was also granted travel exemption to seek medical treatment, as was another former Taylor wife, Enid Taupee Taylor.
U.N. reluctant to lift restrictions
Taupee Taylor Shortly following the 2005 elections and inauguration of the new government, four -elected members of Liberia’s parliament were barred from leaving the country for Ghana because of their past association with Taylor. The four were to attend a forum on parliamentary work sponsored by the World Bank but were barred from taking off because they were included in a UN Security Council travel ban. Among those forced to stay home were close associates of the exiled former president, including his wife Jewel Howard Taylor and his former son-in-law Edwin Snowe, managing director of Liberia’s Petroleum Refinery Corporation in the current power-sharing transitional government. Also banned from travel were General Kai Farley, a former rebel commander, and pro-Taylor militia commander General Adolphus Dolo, widely accused of brutality during the war and known as "General Peanut Butter.”
KEY ISSUES
The key issues for the Council in December are the renewal of the remaining sanctions and a possible review of the diamonds embargo.
A related key issue is how and when to address Liberia ’s peacebuilding needs.
Options for the Council include:
Simple renewal of the current sanctions regime;
Reviewing the impact of lifting diamond sanctions, especially in light of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) report.
A key reason for the UNSC reluctance to lift the travel and assets freeze restrictions stems from the Unity Party government’s delay in implementing the assets freeze portion.President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government, earlier this year submitted an assets freeze bill to the national legislature but the bill was sent back to the Executive branch. Sirleaf has insisted that the bill was based on a United Nations Security Council Resolution that has instituted measures against those fomenting unrest in the sub-region. However, one of Sirleaf’s former rivals, Winston Tubman, a former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Somalia, Cllr. Winston Tubman stirred waves this year when he said the draft Assets Freeze Act submitted before the National Legislature was a violation of the Liberian Constitution.
“I thought it’s very sweeping. It not only does freezing, it also can go against people who you suspect have real property that was stolen. This would violate our Constitution and I don’t think the Government needs to do that in order to implement Resolutions of the UN Security Council that call for Assets Freezing,” he said
Frustration as Urey, Shaw try to conceal assets
The U.N. has been frustrated by both the NTGL government of Gyude Bryant and the current UP-led government’s lack of effort in implement the ban. The panel reported in June how both Shaw and Benoni Urey sought to hide financial assets in bridge of the United Nations assets freeze ban. Urey, widely viewed as Taylor’s ‘money bag man’, Benoni Urey and former financial aide Emmanuel Shaw attempted to deceived the ban by placing dummy members on the board of directors, according to the Panel of Experts report released this month.
In addition to freezing assets, resolution 1532 (2004) prohibits the provision of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, directly or indirectly, for the benefit of the persons on the assets-freeze list. However, Urey and Shaw, two close advisers of Taylor replaced themselves with two low-profile individuals, S. Layola Flemming, a Liberian national, and Amos Affuol, a Ghanaian national. Shaw, who is also on the U.N travel ban currently resides in Ghana and is said to be in a poor state of health.
The panel stated that in the course of its investigations, the Panel met S. Layola Flemming, the
Chairman of the Board of Lonestar, who represents PLC on the Lonestar Board and is the only Liberian on the Board. “However, he did not know that he was the Chairman of the Board. He told the Panel that he was not receiving any remuneration from Lonestar. He did not know that as Chairman he was being paid $6,000 monthly (payments confirmed by the General Manager of Lonestar). He simply admitted that he had acted as a proxy director of Lonestar at one Board meeting, about two years before. Indeed, he was not aware that in 2006 Lonestar paid a dividend of $3.2 million to PLC,” the panel reported.
Shaw, represented PLC Investment Ltd on the Board of the Lonestar Communications Corporation from 2000 to 2005. Presumably because Urey and Shaw are on the assets-freeze list, and their presence on the Lonestar Board was made public in June 2005, they chose to flip the script on U.N. officials.
Benoni Urey The panel then notified of the apparent tax evasion, the Deputy Minister of Revenue stated that she had issued a notice to Mr. Urey and Mr. Shaw to produce the tax returns for PLC for the last six years (2000-2006), as no tax payment records could be located in the Ministry of Finance. The Deputy Minister of Revenue informed the Panel that Mr. Urey had informed her on 11 May 2007 that his company was incurring huge losses and that his company had employed VOSCON to prepare its accounts — the same certified professional accounting firm used by GEPCO
As the collector of most of Taylor’s funds during the dictator’s reign, Urey reportedly handled large amounts for Taylor and was one of the most powerful men in the country under Taylor. Urey was said to be in charge of arms purchasing and collection of Taylor’s funds. Of all those on the list, Urey is believed to have amassed immense wealth from his ties to Taylor. Second to the Forestry Development Authority, the BMA was a key source of revenues for the Taylor government. Regrettably, much of the monies generated went toward the purchase of arms and ammunition –with Urey serving as Taylor’s right hand.
Bill submitted after panel’s concerns
The panel described Urey as "little more than a cash extraction operation and cover from which to fund and organize opaque off-budget expenditures, including for sanctions-busting".
It can be recalled that in the previous findings by the experts panel, the body took Justice Minister Frances Johnson-Morris to task for not doing much to bring Urey, Shaw and others from the Taylor era to justice or implement the assets freeze. The previous panel report took the Sirleaf administration to task for failing to implement the assets freeze, seventeen months after it assumed power. The panel said the government is yet frozen the assets of any individuals or entities designated in pursuance of Security Council resolution 1532 (2004). “The position of the Government is that the present laws are inadequate to implement the assets-freeze resolution. The Minister of Justice reported that in December 2006 she had submitted draft implementing legislation to the Executive Mansion , but that the bill had not reached the President.”
According to the panel report, experts were informed that in mid-April 2007 Justice Minister Frances Johnson-Morris reportedly gave the bill to the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs to give to the President directly.
It was in the aftermath of the panel’s finding that the bill was finally submitted and subsequently rejected by lawmakers. Johnson-Morris’ successor, Phillip Banks has pledged that under his watch, the administration would not go against any particular individual or any members of a particular government.
“The U.N. has indicated certain individuals and probably institutions that are affected. I am saying that we are looking beyond that. Whether it is a based on the U.N. or not, once it is based on corruption, we think we should be covered.
As the government snails on the assets freeze implementation, Urey in particular continues to enjoy his wealth. Besides owning one of the biggest farms in Liberia, Urey is considered one of the key U.N. sanctions busters as he continues to profit from business interests in Monrovia. Both Urey and Shaw continue to receive monthly salaries from the cellular telephone company Lonestar. A report by the Coalition for International Justice in 2005, suggested that after Urey was placed on the Treasury Department's list of designated individuals; he attempted to sell a house he owns in Maryland for about $1million but the deal was halted after the Treasury Department became aware of the deal. The report says Urey, acting on Taylor's orders, requested one of Taylor's former wives to cash in nearly US$2million in Inmarsat shares in London. The transaction was blocked by British authorities because of suspicions that the money was going to Taylor.
While Urey, Shaw and others enjoy wealth, the assets of another Taylor aide is almost depleted. The panel reported in June that the Permanent Mission of Ghana revealed that Barclays Bank of Ghana “no longer holds any funds for another one of Taylor’s key aide, Grace Minor, having released such funds on a quarterly basis to Ms. Minor, as requested by the Government of Ghana and sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee on Liberia”. The panel however noted that the Government of Ghana had approached the sanctions Committee on August 25th 2005 regarding the Government’s intention to authorize certain expenditures to the benefit of Ms. Minor, Barclays Bank had already released 90 per cent of the balance within 15 days of her designation on the assets-freeze list in August 2004.
FPA
