“Sanctions Destroyed My Reputation”–McGill Says; Looks Forward To Due Process To Exonerate Himself
The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and President Weah’s Chief of Office Staff, Nathaniel Falo McGill, who was recently suspended after the United States Department of Treasury placed sanctions and travel ban on him, along with two other top-ranking officials of the Weah administration, says the allegation of corruption levied against him without any due process to allow him clear his name has destroyed his good reputation and name he built over the years. McGill further prayed that the justice system gives him the opportunity to state his case and exonerate himself from the allegations in order to restore the honest status he has had over the years.
“I am awaiting God’s intervention. My lawyers are working on it. You see, I don’t blame the Americans. I don’t think the Americans hate me but I think somebody misinformed them. This is an investigation; someone told them the story.
“They never met me. I didn’t have the opportunity to defend myself on these allegations. I just heard about everything on the news. So, it came as a surprise and I still maintain my innocence,” McGill said.
McGill made the assertion when he granted an exclusive interview to Al-Jazeera News Network to speak on the US Government’s designated sanctions and travel ban placed on him recently.
Speaking further, McGill pleaded innocent of the US Government designation, noting that the United States Treasury Department might have been fed with the wrong information that led to his targeting for the Global Magnitsky Sanctions.
“One thing you have to also know is that a lot of criminal-minded people have used my name and position before to engage in corrupt practices, extortion of money from people, while some people make calls around purporting to be me and swindling money from unsuspecting characters who are not only stealing from the people but are bent on tarnishing my reputation. Just go on Facebook, it is all over the place. People are using fake identities, fake names as Hon. McGill to deceive people. Some of them were arrested before and turned over to the security agencies for prosecution,” McGill said, noting that he has been a victim of identity theft, a situation that caused him serious embarrassment.
In his consistent denial against the crime levied against him that caused his designation and sanction by the United States Treasury Department, the suspended Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel Farlo McGill, said he has every reason to believe that the Americans do not hate him, but must have been misled into believing the wrong information some other people might have told them, for which he was designated and sanctioned for alleged acts of corruption without him being given an opportunity to state his side of the story.
“They may be investigating something genuine about corruption in Liberia, but somebody must have told them something or misled them into believing whatever that must have led to the sanctions. I just believe someone must have misled them with the false information, but I don’t think the Americans hate me. I am just sure that they must have genuinely intended to find the source of corruption in the country but somebody must have told them the wrong information,” McGill said.
When asked how he saw the sanction placed on him and two of his other compatriots, McGill said the sanctions are not being taken lightly, and that it has an enormous weight. However, he said he will not say much for now, as he has written President George Manneh Weah to make his response known. He said he is intending to pursue it through the legal process in order to seize the opportunity to be heard, and believes that the United States, which he described as the greatest democracy in the world and a firm believer in human rights and justice, will give him the opportunity to defend himself.
Addressing the issue of whether corruption is being practiced at high places in Liberia, McGill said he could not categorically state that corruption exists in Liberia, but acknowledged that, corruption being a worldwide scourge, it would be an irony if he says that there is no corruption in Liberia and that he, at the same time, will not say there exists corruption in the country if he has not been able to establish the fact.
“If I say there is corruption…have I established that? What is my evidence? Yes, people may be corrupt but the laws in Liberia say you have to bring evidence against the individual. So, there are individuals who have been investigated or are being investigated, but I am not the Minister of Justice to lead the legal process to know who is guilty or not. The whole world, the whole of Africa, it is just difficult to say that nobody is corrupt; that will be an understatement,” he said.
The suspended Minister of State further noted that it is imperative that he goes through the due process to clear his good name and reputation he has built over the years. With reference to the allegation that he has been soliciting money from business people with the desire to get a kickback, McGill said, “There is no businessman in this country who can say I have asked them for money as kickback for me to influence anything in government, be it for contract or special privilege.”
Responding to a question about the rationale behind the US Department of Treasury indicting him for corrupt acts, McGill said it is something he could not fathom, and that no one from any institution of the United States has ever asked him or probed him about corrupt practices or any negative thing since he became the Minister of State for Presidential affairs.
He said though the US Ambassador to Liberia, Michael McCarthy, has been consistent about the issue of corruption in the country, which has been a generic and a broad perspective of what the Ambassador felt about corruption in the country, yet there has never been a time where the Ambassador or any member of the US government ever queried or confronted him about being involved in acts of corruption.
He maintained strongly that he is not a target of the US Department of Treasury, and he sees no reason for ever believing it. “Those who had the genuine reason to conduct an investigation about corruption must have unfortunately been misled by others who did not have any evidence or facts to prove their allegation against me. So, we cannot say we are being targeted by the American government,” he added.
McGill also dismissed the insinuation that there is a culture of silence and fear in the minds of civil society organizations or individuals about expressing their opinion about corruption in the country.
“No, Liberia is so free and you can talk or say anything about the government and corruption, and nothing will happen to you. People abuse the President and nothing happens to them. Since you came to the country, has anyone threatened you? Do you see the army or any of our security personnel in the streets with guns? Liberia is the only country in the sub-region where you will not find any security personnel with guns in the streets. It tells you that there is tolerance for people to say anything they wish to say, including anything about corruption,” the suspended Minister of State stated emphatically.