For Allegedly Stealing US$850,000 And L$10M: Two GT Bank Employees Charged, Forwarded To Court

The Liberia National Police has charged two GT Bank employees, Andrea Duobah and Genesis Davis, with misapplication of entrusted property, theft of property, forgery, criminal facilitation and criminal conspiracy and forwarded them to the Monrovia City Court, Temple of Justice.

   It can be recalled that four months ago Charles E. Sirleaf filed a complaint to the Liberia National Police (LNP) that his United States dollar and Liberian dollar accounts at the Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank were tempered with, thereby resulting to the disappearance of US$850,000 and L$10 million. The police immediately launched a detailed criminal investigation, under which several persons were invited, including Andrea Duobah, the GT Bank staff whom Sirleaf trusted to act as his account officer in terms of his banking activities with the bank.

   Sources close to the investigation indicated that Andrea Duobah singlehandedly made several withdrawals without the knowledge and consent of Sirleaf.

   What appears to be confusing is the fact that, while Andrea was making these large withdrawals, the Internal Audit Department at GT Bank failed to query the transactions, especially where they were done through “on the counter checks” that were not issued from Sirleaf’s official check book. Additionally, the SMS alert that is used by the bank to inform Sirleaf about any deposit and withdrawals from his accounts were disconnected; therefore, he was not in the know about activities affecting his accounts.