Liberia: LEITI Alleges, Nocal Denies - Where Is the Third Side?

opinion

One of the stories that made major headlines in the Liberian media yesterday was a reaction by the National Oil Company Liberia (NOCAL) regarding a recent allegation by the Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiatives (LEITI . The LEITI recently alleged in one of its reports, as published by the DAILY OBSERVER Newspaper that"US$330K 'Unaccounted for" in oil sector. The report stated that "analyzing total payment and differences per sector, LEITI found that within the oil sector, the companies paid US$49,911,073.86 but only US$49,681, 073.86 was paid in the government's coffers. The report , according to media reports, shows that a difference of US$230,000 remains unaccounted for in the oil sector reported by companies as paid to the government but the government agencies did not report receiving."

In its reaction, NOCAL dismissed the LEITI's claim and described it as misleading. According to NOCAL, the account was for the period July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011, which stated, "Analyzing total payment and differences per sector, LEITI found that within the oil sector, the company paid US$ 49,911,073.86 but only US$ 49,681, 073.86 was paid in the government's coffers. "A difference of US$ 230,000 remains unaccounted for in the oil sector, reported by companies as paid to the government but the government agencies did not report receiving." With the total amounts taken into account, there can be no other difference therefore, only US$ 230,000 is in question, not US$320K" as reported misleadingly."

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