Liberia’s former Representative of European Railroads Established Services (ERES), Robert Clarke, has alarmed about threat on his life following months of alleged harassment, intimidation and framing by his former business partner and some state security operatives.
Clarke has said that, with specific reference to the mysterious deaths in Liberia of late, he wishes to publicly announce that he no longer feels safe at this particular time since his action of bringing the European Railroads Established Services (ERES), a French company, to invest in developing Liberia’s road network has turned into a dreadful witch-hunt by his former partner, Eric Filor Nagbe, allegedly supported by some senior officials of government for what they consider as an embarrassment through his publications—exposing the challenges he faced in trying to get the company operational in Liberia.
Clarke’s outburst about unnecessary delays and stumbling blocks created by some government officials has reportedly reached President Weah, which has allegedly angered the officials concerned.
This, he said, is only an introduction to what the past few days and weeks have been for him, and it is on this note he has chosen to give his account of the story.
Clarke explained that on Thursday, August 19, at 7:12 p.m., he received a telephone call from a gentleman who introduced himself as Commissioner Gboyah of the Liberian National Police, inviting him (Clarke) to appear at his (Gboyah’s) office the next day at 10:00 a.m., but when he inquired about the nature of the invitation, Gboyah declined to tell him but instead threatened to have his house surrounded by law enforcement officers and arrest him if he refused to heed the request to appear at the LNP headquarters.
According to Clarke, given the current public concerns of the LNP’s alleged misconduct in its line of duty, he took his statement as no idle threat, so he reminded Commissioner Gboyah that he was in error making such a remark, and that considering there was an investigation in which he (Clarke) was labeled a “person of interest,” (as Gboyah later indicated), the approach was in ultra violation of Section 10.1 (a) (b) (c) and (d) of the Criminal Procedure Laws of Liberia.
Notwithstanding, Clarke added, Gboyah and his team of police officers were determined to effect his arrest without a court warrant on Friday morning, August 20, 2021, an action he termed as premature and unprofessional. According to him, Gboyah and his team registered their clear disregard for Liberian laws and also signaled Eric Nagbe and his allies’ desperation to link him to the commission of an alleged crime and have him arrested and detained on a bogus charge, with a smear campaign to counter the so-called embarrassment he has caused them.
Clarke said he did not go with the officers who went to make the arrest that morning, but made an appearance at the LNP headquarters on his own volition along with a colleague from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law and a security agent assigned to bird-dog the process.
“We arrived and were escorted to the office of Raffell Wilson, whose assigned security code is R-3. While there, Commissioner Gboyah informed R-3 that ‘Eric Nagbe called and asked him to bring me in as a ‘person of interest’ in the alleged disappearance of the French company’s vehicle, (Plate: ERES-1)’, which I officially turn over to him (Eric) on February 6, 2021. I have all the communications detailing the turnover. I was never contacted about this vehicle, which was acknowledged and received by Eric Nagbe from February this year until a few days ago,” Clarke explained.
He further averred that CIP Joseph Washington, CSD/LNP, was quickly fetched from his office to assemble a team for dispatch to what R-3 confidently described as a “crime scene”, but before Washington and his team left the office the agent who accompanied him (Clarke) pointed out a fundamental flaw of the investigators in commencing an investigation without clearly stating the reasons for which he was invited to the LNP HQ by Commissioner Gboyah, so he (Clarke) alluded to the police’s disregard for Article 21 (c) of the 1986 Constitution, in keeping with such proceedings.
A disagreement then ensued between the investigators and the agent who accompanied him.
Having critiqued R-3’s method of investigation and collection of evidence, Clarke said they requested that he leave his telephone number in case they wished to contact him, and he complied, but not long after they left the office he was called to go back to the LNP headquarters, and upon arrival R-3 apologized for what he reasoned was flagging an apparent “harassment”, and so he permitted Clarke to go home.
Clarke further explained that, a few hours later he received information that the Magisterial Court had subpoenaed his call record from Orange, the GSM company, without a valid case or any formal charge.
Clarke accused his former business partner, Eric Filor Nagbe, of being behind the plot against him, with the sole intent to desperately link him (Clarke) to the culprit caught on CCTV driving off in ERES-1, the assigned official vehicle he (Clarke) was riding prior to his removal as Representative of European Railroads Established Services (ERES).
Robert Clarke came in contact with the European Railroads Established Services (ERES) during his time in France and encouraged them to invest in Liberia, particularly in the crucial road sector. He was then asked to move back to Liberia in 2020 and explore the possibilities and processes of making the company a duly registered investment entity to do business in Liberia.
However, Clarke’s effort to complete the assigned task could not materialize to expectation due to alleged delays and bottlenecks created by some key government officials based on personal interest.
Eric Filor Nagbe, whose services were contracted by Clarke and his French partners to work along with him in Liberia, has allegedly double-crossed Clarke and discouraged the French company from maintaining him as its representative in Liberia on grounds that Clarke had politicized the company’s activities in Liberia and, therefore, maintaining him would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the company to achieve its goal of doing business in Liberia.
European Railroads Established Services (ERES), apparently based on what Nagbe had communicated, removed Clarke as its representative in Liberia in February 2021 and replaced him with his Liberian partner, Eric Filor Nagbe.
Nagbe reportedly mandated Clarke to receive the company’s asset, including the vehicle, with license plate marked “ERES-1”.
Clarke, in the same February, reportedly parked the vehicle at a garage designated by Nagbe in Sinkor, but since then a battle of police and Nagbe vs Clarke had ensued, with Clarke alleging serious threat on his life by the police, some government officials and his former partner, Eric Filor Nagbe.
Eric Filor Nagbe is yet to comment on Clarke’s claims of threat and conspiracy, but in a complaint filed with the Liberia National Police, Nagbe, who was hired as a tax consultant for the company, said Clarke, who was also hired two years ago, was assigned a Toyota Hilux vehicle, but when his contract ended he was ordered to turn over the company’s assets to him (Nagbe), which included the vehicle, a computer and a printer, but the vehicle went missing on June 8 between 9:00 a.m. and 9:06 a.m., according to Nagbe.
He narrated that, after they realized the vehicle was missing, through investigation he noticed that Clarke did not hand over the original key of the vehicle upon its return. All of this, he claimed, he did not notice until the vehicle went missing.
Nagbe said he was called from overseas by an official of the company asking him to verify whether Clarke left the computer and printer in the vehicle. It was during the period of verification he noticed that the vehicle itself could not be found.
Nagbe also claimed that on August 16, 2021, he received an email from Fred, one of the directors of the ERES’ conglomerate, asking him for update on the company’s printer and computer that Robert Clarke should have turned over as well.
Nagbe said the director apparently messaged Robert and forwarded Robert’s response to him (Nagbe) through WhatsApp, in which Robert is quoted to have said that the printer and computer were in the car.
So, according to Nagbe, he told Fred that on the day Robert delivered the car he did not tell him anything about printer and computer.
Nagbe explained that it was during the verification process he noticed the car was missing.
Police spokesman, H. Moses Carter, when approached earlier by the media, declined to speak to the matter, noting that his office had not yet been briefed on the investigation process.
He however promised to revert to the media after he ascertains the facts and circumstances of the matter.