Monrovia — The Superintendent of Sinoe County on Friday confirmed that his administration withdrew US$25,000 from the county's development fund and loaned it to address an "emergency need" facing the county at the time.

Superintendent Sylvester Grigsby also confirmed that the money was given to Sinoetrust, a company he said belongs to the county on whose Board of Trustees members of the Sinoe Legislative caucus serve.

He explained that the county was experiencing a shortage of rice thereby necessitating his decision to capitalize the Sinoetrust Company to import rice to the county to remedy the situation.

"I took that decision as a head of the county to establish a rice facility to guarantee the constant supply of rice on the County market and to ensure that there were no wild swings in the price of this vital commodity during the rainy season", Superintendent Grigsby said.

Notwithstanding, Superintendent Grigsby acknowledged that the transaction was "not a loan in the strictest sense of the word. It was a fungible arrangement whereby we expected money to come in for the Trust. We therefore took the amount to be refunded when we receive the money expected."

The Sinoe Superintendent made the confirmations at a press conference following the publication of a story in a local daily in which an investigative report by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was quoted as accusing the Superintendent of withdrawing and diverting US$25,000 from the county development fund last May.

The money is expected to be refunded within one year according to the story.