The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) over the year has shown the willpower to haunt corrupt officials of government and provide substantial evidence to bring them down guilty before a court of competent jurisdiction for their subsequent incarceration. This endeavor has been warmly greeted by the public, and the LACC only seems undeterred by critics to muster the courage to disgrace corrupt officials, whom many have described as the biggest problem to nation’s growth and development.
The effort of the LACC to pursue legal matters against former untouchables, including former Police Director, Beatrice Munah Sieh-Brown, and former Defense Minister, J. Brownie Samukai, has placed the LACC on a good page with some corruption-watch institutions and indexes, including the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL).
LACC’s investigation and subsequent trial of former Police Director, Sieh-Brown, found her guilty of misappropriating US$199,800,000 for undelivered police uniforms, and recently former Defense Minister Samukai was nailed for the misuse of US$1,147,656,000, illegally withdrawn from the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) pension fund.
The convicted police and defense officials and collaborators have since been ordered by the courts to restitute the stolen money to the government.
LACC authorities have been the driving force, along with the Ministry of Justice, for the criminal prosecution of the two top senior security bosses for corruption.
The LACC investigated Police Director Sieh-Brown, her Deputy, along with a Nigerian businessman, Prince O.A Akinremi of Ultimate Investment Holding Company after they received nearly US$2,000,000 from the government for uniform for the Police Emergency Response Unit (ERU), which was never delivered.
Former Defense Minister Samukai was also investigated by the LACC for embezzling US$1,147,656, intended as pension benefit for soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), which forced the government of President George Weah to refund the stolen money in order to avert imminent mutiny in the military.
The restitution process of the stolen wealth by the courts have, however, been shrouded in secrecy, with reports of official malpractices and outright refusals by the convicted officials to comply with payment terms.
Out-going LACC Chairman, Ndubusi Nwabudike, spearheaded the two investigations and subsequent criminal prosecutions of the two top senior security bosses in less than a year.
Last month, the LACC proposed sweeping changes in the Criminal and Asset Declaration Laws, aimed at effectively dealing with corruption and restoring public trust in the system of governance. The LACC is seeking to remove the Statute of Limitation, which prevents criminal prosecution of corrupt officials after a specified period.
Also among the changes the LACC seeks to be made is the setting up of a specialized fast-track Corruption Court, a Witness Protection Unit (WPU), a framework for Legal Protection of Whistleblowers, as well as granting unto the LACC the power and authority to institute criminal prosecution against persons accused of corruption.
But with Cllr. Nwabudike’s resignation as Chairman of the LACC, critics are saying attaining the necessary legislations will certainly be an uphill task, if not impossible, with major obstacles from among top senior officials within the three branches of government. They wondered whether the in-coming LACC boss will have a similar willpower, or stronger one, to not only chase after corrupt officials but also generate substantive evidences to bring them down guilty before the courts.