30 June 2009
As part of the General Auditing Commission's statutory obligation to conduct specialized investigative and forensic audits where public monies are at risk, either because they are siphoned, misapplied or misappropriated, the Commission has hired the services of Mrs. Meredith DeKalb Miller, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) certified handwriting and document examiner expert to work with the Commission's auditors in finalizing the special audit of the fraudulent transfer of US$1,171,751.
John Morlu, II - GAC Boss
The forensic expert, who is expected to arrived in the country during the weekend, specializes in analyzing, comparing, and evaluating documentary evidence and providing an expert opinion regarding a document's originality or authenticity. Meredith worked at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for ten years as a document analyst and a forensic document examiner.
Her work at the FBI included, among other things, conducting examinations in handwriting, printing processes, alterations, and forgeries in hundreds of criminal cases.
Meredith graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, and earned her Masters of Forensic Science from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Prior to her work at the FBI, Meredith worked at the United States Secret Service as an Investigative Assistant in the Intelligence Division where she received an "On-the-Spot" award for her creation of a unique database tracking threats against high level protectees.
Meredith is court qualified and has successfully testified in several federal jurisdictions including the high profile case of John Allen Mohammed (SNIPER) in 2006.
Ms. Miller employs a global approach to forensic document examinations and is currently contracted through the U.S. Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) to provide international training to forensic laboratories. Recent training focused on questioned document fundamentals in analysis, comparison, and evaluation of evidence in Prishtinal, Kosovo; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Maputo, Mozambique.
The special investigative and forensic audit was commissioned by the Auditor General of the Republic of Liberia John S. Morlu II nearly a month ago. Since then, GAC auditors have been compiling evidential materials as well as other relevant information from the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), the Ministry of States and Presidential Affairs, Finance Ministry and the Ecobank for appropriate forensic analysis.
In its bid to seek forensic expert to independently conduct verifications of those disputed signatures, GAC contacted several institutions, including the US Auditor General Office -General Accountability Office (GAO) of the United States of America, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Forensic Laboratory, Jason Forensic Investigation, all from the USA and the Auditing office of South Africa.
The special commissioned audit also focuses on the US$500,000 Nigerian business man money, but this aspect is not covered in the expert assignment. Addressing a major press conference at the Foreign Ministry upon the discovery of the US$1.1m racket, President Sirleaf said the criminal act was cleverly planned and her signature was indeed forged, adding that it was the divine intervention of God that led to the discovery of the fraud, otherwise the perpetrators would have consumed all of the money.
E. Jee Sirleaf, a Liberian--possibly with no relationship to President Sirleaf--reportedly set up the scam. The transfer from CBL was based on a letter purportedly written and signed by three deputy ministers of Finance Ministry: the Deputy Minister for Revenue, the Deputy Minister for Expenditure and the Deputy Minister for Administration. The three deputy ministers have since denied writing the Central Bank of Liberia, alleging like President Sirleaf that their signatories were forged.
The letter also had two attachments: one was dated April 1, 2009, to the Deputy Minister of Revenue supposedly written by President Sirleaf instructing the Deputy Minister to transfer US$1,171,751 paid by the LPRC as Corporate Profit taxes to the account in Ecobank numbered 109135306220014.
The other attachment was the Ministry of Finance Receipt # 582231, dated March 31, 2009, issued to LPRC for the payment of US$1,171,751 in corporate taxes, the exact amount that the letter asked to be transferred to implement the President's "reform agenda" at LPRC.
The expertise of Madam Dekalb will help the GAC establish whether or not the disputed signatures were actually forged plus other findings.
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