Editorial: Pres. Boakai’s Proactive Response To The Allegations Against Commerce Minister Amin Modad

IN FEBRUARY, PRESIDENT Boakai appointed Amin Modad as Minister of Commerce, with the primary function to collect, evaluate and publish data pertaining to commerce and industry, establish and enforce standards for business practices, promote sound development of foreign and domestic trade, and issue import and export permits (IPDs). But seven months later, the major corruption allegations against the minister are becoming countless, with the public gradually losing trust in the one-time Chairman of the Unity Party (UP).

BEFORE HIS APPOINTMENT, Modad was accused of being one of the main factors that depleted the First International Bank (FIB). According to information, Modad served as a board member of the bank, and that he used the portfolio to take a loan in the tone of US$400,000, which he could not pay until the entity ran into bankruptcy and subsequently sold out to the Ghanaian-owned SIB Bank.

THIS ALLEGATION WAS recently reechoed by the Senator of Margibi County, Nathaniel F. McGill, who requested that the minister be investigated and prosecuted if found culpable of the crime. According to Senator McGill, Modad allegedly used the funds to revamp his partially-owned Bella Casa Hotel and purchase a yacht worth the same amount to that of former President William V.S. Tubman.

FAST-FORWARD TO his current portfolio as Minister of Commerce, Modad stands accused of soliciting funds from rice importers barely a month after his appointment, so that he would present it as a token of appreciation from them to the President of Liberia and to allegedly create a good atmosphere for business conversation with the new government. However, Modad’s middle-man role nearly backfired after he assured the importers of an increment in the price of rice and subsequently announced the increment at a press briefing at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism.

AFTER MINISTER MODAD’S pronouncement of the increase in the price of rice on May 20, 2024, President Boakai immediately requested a meeting with the rice importers, where the Commerce Minister allegedly failed to convince the President. The President reportedly got irritated, walked out of the meeting and ordered his dismissal. Modad was rescued by the intervention of other cabinet ministers, who pleaded on his behalf.

IN JUNE 2024, after the Supreme Court lifted the stay order on the Customs Capacity Building Fund, Minister Modad’s request for US$96,000, which was made in early May, was approved by the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) for the purchase of vehicles to support the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Unfortunately, Minister Modad would use the fund to purchase a single vehicle, 2024 Chevy Suburban, for his own use, even though he claims that the vehicle is registered in the ministry’s name. Modad’s action went contrary to the mandate to use the funds to purchase several vehicles for the ministry for trade-related activities, in collaboration with customs.

AS IF NOTHING is wrong with his action as a minister of government, Modad also reportedly purchased a boat in July. The LRA confirmed that Modad brought in the boat in July 2024, but clarified that they did not grant him duty-free clearance; instead, he paid all the funds required for its release.

SINCE THE INCEPTION of the Boakai-Koung administration, Modad stands as the most accused of corruption, in the face of economic constraints and extreme poverty in the nation. All of these are happening only in a seven-month period. Unity Party insiders are claiming that Modad seems to be paying himself back for all that he did for Boakai and the UP folks during the 2023 general and presidential elections, leaving observers in the public to wonder whether the campaing-era activities of the Unity Party have partly or wholely tied the President’s hands in a proactive response.