As Joint Committee Reports On GOL’s Consolidated Accounts: Senate Investigation Confirms US$40.5 Million At CBL
The Joint Public Accounts and Audits and Banking and Currency Committee of the Liberian Senate has concluded its investigation into the amounts left behind by the George M. Weah administration and inherited by the Joseph N. Boakai administration, establishing that the government’s FY2024 gross accounts balance as of January 19, 2024 was US$40,550,089.77 (forty million five hundred fifty thousand and eighty-nine United States dollars seventy-seven cents).
The joint committee’s report, signed by Senator Amara Konneh, Chairman, Public Accounts and Audit Committee (PAC); Senator Edwin M. Snowe, Jr., member, PAC; Senator Cllr. Joseph Jallah, Chairman, Banking and Currency Committee (BCC); and Senator Nathaniel F. McGill, member, BCC, was submitted to the plenary of the Liberian Senate on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, with the recommendation that a special reconciliation audit of the consolidated accounts be made to establish the facts and give them to the Liberian people. According to the joint committee, the audit is in the interest of accountability and transparency, and will clear any doubts about the true net position of the consolidated accounts that President Boakai inherited as of January 21, 2024.
It can be recalled that former President Weah told the nation on January 21, 2024 that he left US$40 million in the Consolidated Accounts while President Boakai told the National Legislature and the public in his State-of-the-Nation Address on January 29, 2024 that Weah’s statement was not true, and that his predecessor left US$20.5 million in the Consolidated Account at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL).
According to the joint committee’s report to the plenary of the Senate, both Weah and Boakai failed to inform the public if their figures were gross or net account balances; and to establish the true balance of the government’s consolidated accounts one needs to refer to the net balance to consider all outstanding checks issued against those accounts as of said date.
On January 30, 2024, the Senate plenary voted to mandate the Public Accounts and Audits Committee (PAC) and the Banking and Currency Committee (BCC) to expeditiously investigate the matter and establish the true balances of the Consolidated Accounts with supported documentation and report to plenary by Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
Accordingly, on January 30, 2024 the joint committee wrote the CBL Executive Governor, J. Aloysius Tarlue, and requested that he provides the consolidated accounts’ balances in USD and LRD as of January 17, 2024 and January 19, 2024 at the CBL, supported by appropriate bank statements and minutes of all meetings the CBL held with the joint Presidential Transition Team (JPTT). The joint committee also requested that the CBL provides the government’s revenue account balances for the same period and for the calendar year ended December 31, 2023. The bank was requested to submit the documents by end of day on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
The joint committee’s report revealed that the CBL responded swiftly, and after careful review and analysis of the documents (bank statements), it was established that, as of December 31, 2023, the gross account balance was US$21,464,644.50 (US$15,967,236.86 and L$1,038,847,320.62); and as of January 17, 2024, the account had appreciated to US$37,798,931.96, which included both end of December 2023 balances and January accounts balances.
Finally, as of January 19, 2024 the gross accounts balance stood at US$40,550,089.77, and that this figure included both end of FY2023 and FY2024 accounts balances.
Meanwhile, the report of the Joint Public Accounts and Audits and Banking and Currency Committee has recommended that, in the interest of accountability and transparency, it would be better to call for a special reconciliation audit of the consolidated accounts to establish the facts and give them to the Liberian people. The purpose of this special audit, according to the report, is to establish true balances (gross and net) of the consolidated accounts to clear any doubts about the true net position of the Consolidated Accounts that President Boakai inherited as of January 21, 2024.
The Senate committee’s report has validated earlier investigation conducted by the Hot Pepper, which suggested that President Boakai pronounced wrong figures during his State-of-the-Nation Address.
According to the Hot Pepper findings, President Boakai may have been misled by the Unity Party (UP) transitional team or, possibly, his Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Boima Kamara, who is arguably a trusted and confidential financial expert within his circle.
However, Observers are saying that, whatever the case may be, President Boakai needs to apologize to the Liberian people for giving them misinformation, even after they entrusted him with the Presidency. They say this should be done before he is made to do so, which would be much more accepted and convenient for him and his administration. They warned Boakai’s kitchen cabinet to progress from their campaign mood and realize that they are now steering the affairs of the state.