Unveiling the truth at the Central Bank of Liberia

 Tuesday, January 31, 2006    

              By John Klaygbe 

I read with interest the anonymous article entitled “CBL: Since then, What have been the subsequent events unfolding” and also read a rebuttal published in most of the local dailies by the CBL authorities entitled” Coming From the Cold."

After a careful analysis of the issues discussed, I came to the conclusion that something is actually going wrong with our financial institution. To begin with, I will like to firstly discuss the anonymous article, which has created some questions in the minds of the reading public.

The article stated that the former Governor, Elie Saleeby was forced to resign his post as Executive Governor of the bank. What the writer failed to address was the situation leading to the decision to pressurize Chairman Bryant at the time to ask the then governor to resign.

What was widely circulated in Liberia was that the governor fell short on a lot of monetary issues and was arrogant with the fund mission about questions were raised about his handling of the monetary policy in the country.

Before then, there were documents that came out of the Central Bank showing salaries of the governor and his deputy among other transactions. What was not clear and still remains a mystery is whether or not the records displayed were legal or acts of corruption.

The Governor Saleeby was never prosecuted or made to stand trial for any wrongdoing. Under those circumstances, one cannot allude to the practice of corruption especially when the issues raised were just about salaries. Governor Saleeby at the time made it clear that the issue about his salary was discussed and agreed upon by the president of Liberia as a pre-condition for accepting the job.

To this date, no one has questioned the then governor or taken any action against him. I believe Saleeby is not above reproach but I give him a pat on the back for training prominent young Liberians in the United States at various high-profile institutions. I am happy that they all came back home and are contributing to nation building, justifying the tax payers money spent on them. During the tenure of Saleeby, the bank represented a good atmosphere for doing business and conducting monetary affairs.

 I also understand that during his tenure, messengers were afforded the opportunity to become computer literate, and human resource development was very vital to the institution.

During his tenure, university students were recruited to work at the bank and apply their trade, which was a boost for those young people at the business college.

 I also got to know that many senior staff members were dissatisfied with salaries and discouraged to work. In a nutshell, I believe the good overshadowed the bad.

After Governor Saleeby left the bank, he recommended Charles Greene to take over the affairs of the institution. I can confirm and attest that Charles Greene has a tainted reputation in Liberia, because I am a witness to the Bong Bank incident when he and former president Taylor depleted the coffers of that bank and engaged in broad day thievery.

 I am not surprise, however, that his ascendancy to that noble institution is having a crippling effect at the institution.

In their so-called rebuttal to the anonymous article, they didn’t refute any of the claims but only attempted to engage in promotional activities leaving one to believe that their claims are true.

It is true that when Taylor became president, he said that the Liberian government would be responsible to pay the debt owed by his then NPRAG. These included the money he and Charles Greene stole in broad daylight. When Greene got in power, he started to give housing allowance to employees, but this was short-lived.

The fact is that he Mr. Greene dissolved the bank security and allowed his girlfriend to bring in her private security, which is headed by her brother. He opened a boutique for his girlfriend on Carey Street just right before the Hatai shop.

He goes to Firestone every weekend lavishing the bank’s resources on his fiancée and bringing receipts for reimbursements. He is very ill responsible and cannot cope with the demands of the job.

He now has resulted in public relations so that President Ellen Johnson Sir leaf will keep him at the bank, which is a fruitless exercise.

We heard from the grapevine that when he knew his preferred choice would not succeed, he siphoned some funds through Charles Sirleaf to be given to his mother for the campaign just to remain on the job. Greene is a thief and must be audited with his deputy and must not be allowed to leave the country. He is using one Kolako, a paid agent, college dropout, and errand boy to him to pay huge sums to the press for publicity.

 If Greene is not doing anything wrong, then there is no need for the publicity we are now seeing from his camp.

He is always using the bank resources going to America and other places on a drinking spree and coming back with bogus receipts for reimbursements. Why would a bank governor use his son, Michael Greene who resides in the United States to serve as a procurement officer of the bank, while accusing Saleeby of using his foster brother to man the bank’s vault? At least Saleeby used his foster brother.

These are some of the ways Mr. Greene is abusing power and misusing his office. He retired Nathaniel Patray and Joseph Acqui but is paying each of them L$150,000 as contractual fees for nothing in return.

He is in shady deals with the board to rob the people of Liberia. The board members have all taken their board fees in advance for service that was never rendered. What a bad precedent?

These are the very people lobbying for jobs around here and in the corridors of the Executive Mansion everyday for appointments. The likes of James Dennis, a long time criminal is been used as a cover-up for most of the corrupt activities at the bank. This is a man who recently went for an IMF seminar for two weeks and his allowance was supposed to be around US$8,000.

He increased the number of days to 33 and inflated his allowance to US$23,000. He pocketed the rest of the money and created another trip in less than three weeks with additional allowance. What a pity. All his time at the bank is just basically croaking the public.

In 1995, Raleigh Sekee attempted firing him from the bank for issuing to a Lebaneese national a Central Bank check. To get a cut, he toke a finance ministry check from the Lebaneese merchant that could not be cashed.

 He wept bitterly when his job was on the line, and used his old time concubine Sheeba Brown to beg on his behalf.

Former Governor Seekee stand prepare to confirm this saga. He depleted the reserves of LUBI and escaped punishment. Walter Togba and one Weagba had to pay the price for his criminal act. The likes of James Dennis, Moses Yarsiah, Christine Williams, and Kolako are corrupt partners of Greene.

 I am afraid that if nothing is done to safeguard the bank by appointing a new board, the institution will wreck because reserves of commercial banks have already been tampered with. Greene and Dennis are criminals and should be handed to the Justice Minister for prosecution.

Any attempt by Mrs. Sirleaf to allow these corrupt criminals to continue at the bank will be met with stiff resistance through a mass action. There is no place for criminals like Greene and Dennis in this new arrangement.

They continue to live in luxury at the expense of the rest of the workers. Greene recently gave his concubine an SUV jeep intended for a GEMAP representative after using bank resources to acquire the vehicle.

If you took a survey at the bank among common employees, they are fed up with the mess created at the bank and only awaiting the president to save the institution by appointing a credible board that will save the institution. Greene is very greedy and always firing people who are principled-minded. He loves flattery, and is an alcoholic who vacillates all over the place especially in Firestone with his concubine, the wife of a young Liberian who has gone frustrated.

The publicity by Greene is a fruitless exercise, and will only reduce the already scarce resources because he and his bunch of criminals will not remain.

They are all disgruntled and disillusioned about the system but cannot do much. Liberians are hoping that Ellen will appoint some prominent members of the society to the board, including some young Liberians inclined in monetary affairs to salvage the institution.

There is credible information that Greene has left the country.

I could go on and on exposing these criminals, but for the sake of the record, I want to give the president a chance to digest the issue of the bank and ensure a forensic audit as soon as possible.

 I will come out with more facts in the next edition. I call on the JPC, CEDE, FOHRD, MODAL, the Justice Minister and other relevant institutions to begin raising these issues as the issue of LPRC was brought to light.

This is very important because the new Liberia should not be a place for criminals and cheats in society. These individuals must account for every penny they squandered, and must pay the price. I hope that the president will take this matter seriously. I am also calling on ULAA and the Liberian organizations in Europe and FLY that represents the interest of young people to begin talking on this issue.

John Klaygbe is a Political Science student at the University of Liberia, and member of MOPTAL, (Movement for the promotion of transparency and Accountability in Liberia).