The Patriotic Entrepreneurs of Liberia (PATEL) says its attention is drawn to a recent petition submitted to the 54th National Legislature by unscrupulous individuals purporting to be members of PATEL.
“Those so-called petitioners, acting under the instructions of Dominic Nimely and Lawrence Cole, had petitioned the honorable Legislature, appealing for fifty million United States dollars (US$50,000,000) to support the Liberalization Policy,” a PATEL press statement, issued Monday, February 27, 2023, stated.
“The story can also be referenced in the Independent Inquirer newspaper’s Monday, February 20, 2023 Edition, Volume 5, Number 15, Titled: ‘PATEL Wants $50 Million to Support Liberalization Policy’. However, in the wisdom of the Honorable House of Representatives, having realized that Dominic Nimely is not the National Chairman of a legal advocacy, capacity building, trade, and economic development union, as with PATEL, the plenary resolved not to have the communication discussed in the session.
“The decision from the 54th Legislature, particularly the House of Representatives, can be described as a patriotic judgment intended to save the Liberian business community from the hands of those criminals and self- seeking individuals” the PATEL statement continued.
“Given the foregoing, Patriotic Entrepreneurs of Liberia (PATEL) categorically distanced itself from the recent trash of a petition submitted to the House of Representatives calling for US$50 million to support the Liberalization Policy.
“PATEL believes that those behind these unlawful acts of Dominic Nimely and Lawrence Cole have political motives similar to that of October 2017. Please be informed that the National Chairman and Executives have noticed with disdain that Dominic Nimely and Lawrence Cole are Fraudsters, scammers, and impersonating the public as National Chairman and Secretary of PATEL.
“They are a group of fraudsters and gluttonous who are constantly deceiving the business community for selfish political gain. The unprofessional and criminal attitude of Dominic Nimely can be traced as far back as October 2017 when he [Dominic Nimely] and surrogates criminally presented fake documents to Mr. Alexander B. Cummings and collected 18,000 United States dollars in the pretense of convincing members of Patel in the fifteen counties to vote Mr. Cummings,” the statement added.
“Today, Dominic and his team of scammers are masquerading under a fake canopy of advocating for our business people by misleading and thwarting the interest of our people. Let me make this emphatic: they are not members of PATEL, and as such, they have no authority whatsoever; to transact any business or act in any way for and on behalf of PATEL.
“Members of the press and patriots, let it be clear that anyone doing business with Dominic Nimely, Lawrence Cole and cohorts would be acting at their own risk, and we shall not be liable or responsible for same.
“We have received concrete information that they are engaging business people about upcoming loans. We seized this medium to warn you members of the public, particularly the business community, to not give them attention because it is fake. Please be aware that since the US$3 million loan for SMEs from the Government of Liberia and LBDI ended there has been no microfinance loan program that our organization is a part of.”
