Community activist, George Sam, says he is not leaving any stone unturned until the Contec Global and Celtic Incorporated alleged US$40 million bogus contract to produce biometric work permit for foreign nationals residing in Liberia are immediately and unconditionally cancelled.
According to Sam, the mouthwatering contract has left more questions than answers among leading politicians in the country.
He alleged that the attitude of the Minister of Labor, Cllr. Charles Gibson, is seemingly unbecoming as he is persistently doing everything possible in his power to sideline the original contractor, who is based in Liberia.
Sam further explained that the action taken by the for top government officials to sideline the original contractor is a breach of existing contract with the local firm in Liberia.
The community activist in no uncertain terms accused Minister of Labor Gibson for being the brain behind the formation of the Contec Global and Celtic Incorporated.
Sam expressed serious discontentment over an alleged organized crime, assisted by the Minister of Justice, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, the Minister of Finance and Development and Planning, Samuel Tweah, and the Commissioner of the Liberia Immigration Services (LIS), Col. Robert Buddy.
Sam explained that something terrible is going wrong regarding the alleged US$40 million bogus deal.
Speaking further, the community activist disclosed that the money involved with the alleged bogus contract did not meet the approval of the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) through a bidding process, and that such a huge contract should have met legislative approval.
Commenting further, Sam noted that even if the current leadership of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government do not prosecute the four government officials for willfully and intentionally entering into a bogus contract to entrap the Government of Liberia, he will take up the issues with the President-elect, Ambassador Joseph Nyumah Boakai, after his inauguration to ensure that the four government officials are brought to book as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the tough-talking activist disclosed that the four above government officials are allegedly operating secretly, thereby sidelining the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and the appropriate banking institutions that are supposed to be signatories to the alleged bogus agreement.
However, foreign nationals are allegedly looking up to these respective entities regarding payment for their biometric work permit.
The lack of proper coordination among the four government officials to settle claims with interested parties prior to the ushering in of the two strange companies have raised eyebrows among ordinary Liberians to the extent that their reputation is at stake.
In a related development, Sam outlined that to have audience with the four government officials allegedly linked to the syndicate is difficult on ground that they are always in meeting.
In another development, Sam added that the Acting commissioner of the Liberian Revenue Authority (LRA), Gabriel Montgomery, has made it clear that he has been asking for relevant documents regarding contractual agreement between all the parties to the printing project for verification and assessment to determine if the local printer in Liberia will be paid for prefinancing all LIS resident permits.
In conclusion, the community activist explained that during his recent visit to one of the partners, the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI), he observed that at the moment an audit of twenty-five thousand booklets (residence permit) that were pre-financed and printed by a local vendor is being conducted at LBDI for negotiated settlement with the local vendor. Investigation continues.
