Abel Massalley (Grand Cape Mount-NPP) has added another casualty for his failed and controversial US380,000 Haj by claiming that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf contributed to the ongoing Hajj fraud because she refused to give the relevant diplomatic documents that would enable him to carry out the pilgrimage, a suggestion the President's Office has categorically denied.

The Haj scandal, involving another Senator, James Momoh (NPP Grand Cape Mount) saw Immigration officials confiscating 10 fake passports and several others deported by the Saudi Arabian government.

"...But let me tell you another side of this thing. This thing started with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. When we were about to make this trip; we requested for a Diplomatic Note so that the Foreign Ministry will inform these people, these authorities that we are coming there. President Sirleaf refused, and that is not how it works..." Sen. Massaley told this paper in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

But the President's office shot back almost immediately through her Press Secretary Cyrus Badio insisting that her refusal to issue such a Diplomatic Note was based on the fact that Sen. Massaley was not invited by the authorities. Instead the trip was a personal religious pilgrimage.

The senator maintained that people were envious of him because never in the history of the nation had anyone accomplished what he had - bringing a 747 Jumbo Aircraft to Liberia to take Muslim faithful to Saudi Arabia. He sounded a veil threat to hold back Cape Mount County come 2011 general and Presidential elections.

He said the Mecca journey was well-organized and finalized at all levels and there was no need for pilgrims to be deported. He said a total of two hundred visas were offered to the Liberian pilgrims by the Saudi Embassy in Guinea.

He said through his personal connection, a friend, whom he declined to name, offered US380, 000 to transport the two hundred pilgrims to Mecca. The money, which he said was arranged his personnel initiative, required the pilgrims to be transported from Monrovia to the King Abdullaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia.