The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on August 15, 2022 designated three Liberian government officials for their alleged involvement in public corruption in Liberia. The officials were designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world. But in the wake of the designation and imposition of sanctions on these three former government officials by the US government, there has been mounting concerns among Liberians as to whether one of the sanctioned officials, former Minister of State of Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel Falo McGill, was ever actually engaged in the acts that were outlined in the Magnitsky sanctions for which he was designated.
This special investigation from credible government sources intends to shine light on the contending issues and highlight concerns from a growing majority of the citizenry as to what might be the collation of wrongful information against Mr. Nathaniel Farlo McGill to justify placing him on sanctions.
The sources’ investigations are guided by the information relating to reasons the sanctions were imposed; and after cross-checking facts available, especially the allegations that triggered the action of the US government, coupled with the statutory role of a minister of state for presidential affairs in Liberia, it is established that there is no way Mr. McGill would have played any part in said transactions and therefore could not be used as an indictment against him.
“In Liberia there are three government institutions that are mainly involved in contract and concession negotiations: namely, the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), and the Ministries of Finance and Development Planning and Justice. The Ministries of Finance and Development Planning and Justice are two signatories to any contract or concession based on a threshold under our laws.
“Interestingly these institutions are independent of the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, which Mr. McGill headed, meaning that Mr. McGill did not have supervisory role over these entities and, therefore, could not sign and influence any contract.
“So, for someone to say that McGill influenced contracts in exchange of favor is far from reality. How did he achieve that? How can he influence decisions taken by other government officials who are at par with him in terms of status?” a well-connected staff of the Ministry of Finance wondered.
The independent investigation by sources also established that McGill’s contact with the PPCC has been on the basis of acting solely on the directive of President George Manneh Weah to intercede on his behalf on issues that needed to be sorted out between concessionaires and the PPCC, like the case between PPCC and the National Elections Commission on the issue of sourcing of bid for the biometric process.
Regarding McGill’s alleged ownership of shares in the East International, the contractors handling the current ELWA-RIA Highway project, investigations revealed quoting sources from the Ministry of Public Works that McGill has no share in the company, and that the company in fact engaged in road development projects in Liberia during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, thus making it impossible for McGill to have been a shareholder and to also influence the contract at any given time.
The source, commenting on the agreement between the Government of Liberia and East International, and quoting a January 16, 2017 letter from the Ministry of Public Works under the signature of the then Minister of Public Works, W. Gyude Moore, to the General Manager of East International Group, stated, “Your Bid submitted on December 13, 2016 for the 24.5 km of the Existing Secondary Road Klay-DC Clarke in Bomi County Rigid Concrete Pavement Project Lot-1 had been accepted in the amount of $19M.”
“This document clearly shows that East International was existing long before CDC came to power, and before McGill became Minister of State for Presidential Affairs under the Weah government,” says a staffer of the Ministry of Public Works who spoke on condition of anonymity regarding the issue of McGill and the US Treasury Department designation against him for corruption.
Further information from investigations shows that McGill was never involved too often in managing public funds within the Ministry of State, as he, on many occasions, delegated responsibilities to some of his deputy ministers or other principal officers to issue and sign cheques.
“It may surprise you that throughout his five-year tenure as Minister, the number of times he signed cheques cannot be more than 100 times, which implies that as busy and demanding his office was and as important as the Ministry is, which played host to the offices of the President, he only signed on the average 20 cheques annually. Again, that shows that he has less contact with funds and, therefore, cannot be seen as corrupt as the indictment against him stated,” the investigation stated.
According to investigative sources, their concerns are meant to ascertain that Liberian citizens should not be made to suffer unduly for acts they did not commit.
Secondly, they aimed to prove a point that the US government has a strong sense of justice and probity, which places them in the position to undo outcomes from decisions that are thoroughly investigated and proven otherwise.
The investigation further noted that the US government might have based its reliance for the sanctions on information from various sources that might be politically compromised.
“It is very likely that the bulk of the information fed to the US Treasury Department could have been compromised. You have to remember that the Weah administration has in its employ citizens from all sides of the aisle, from the opposition camp as well. It is possible that a majority of that information could have been skewed to the benefit of McGill’s detractors who see him as a threat to Weah’s second term try,” the sources recounted.
Weah’s former Minister of State, Nathaniel Falo McGill, has been involved in a lot of humanitarian works, such as giving out scholarship opportunities to students and helping the needy on behalf of the President and in his own name; as such, it was difficult to believe that he was corrupt and, therefore, the sources are appealing to the US government to remove McGill from the sanction list.
