Monrovia — Two dismissed employees of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Liberia has accused the institution's Director General, Edwin W. Harris of wrongfully dismissing them.
Last month, the FIU announced the dismissal of two of its staff, Cooper Leamah and Amos Goba for allegedly breaching its confidentiality rule by leaking sensitive information for personal gains.
The FIU, in a statement sanctioned by its Director General, stated that the pair's alleged actions were in violation of section 67.13 of the FIU Act of 2012 and section 6.7.6 of the Human Resources Hand Book of the FIU, the Code of Conduct and Statement of Confidentiality. It added that the dismissed staff will be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution.
However, in an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa, Leamah and Goba debunked the allegations made against them, and said they were unjustifiably dismissed.
Specifically, the FIU accused Amos Goba of using his connection to conduct illegal investigations and reporting to people outside of the FIU; actions the FIU said were intended to soil the image and character of reputable individuals in society. It also accused him of gross insubordination.
But speaking to FrontPage Africa, Goba denied the allegations.
"In my letter, it sated that I was found discussing classified information with people who are not with me in my department at the FIU, as well as people outside the FIU. And then the Director also alleged that I rendered him gross insubordination. With this in mind, why there was no action taken? There were no time that I have ever been investigated at the FIU; neither have I been warned before. So, to see a huge police presence, I thought that the FIU boss was up for something else."
Goba explained that he and his colleagues had gone to work on Monday, June 27, 2022 and later that morning, a senior staff of the FIU, escorted by several members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) went to their respective offices with the letters of dismissal.
According to him, he was shocked as he has never been served a warning letter or informed of his alleged acts prior to being served the dismissal letter.
"The FIU boss did not send the information that he said I breached, though it borders on state crime to the relevant authorities for investigation. What he thought to do, instead, was to do publication and send it to the public to view his action and it left us wondering where in this world that somebody is not given a due process, then you are dismissed with huge police presence."
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For Cooper Leamah, the FIU said he was the head of analysis at the institution, and in his capacity, gave tip off to a suspect under investigation for suspicious money transaction. This suspect, the FIU alleged happens to be Leamah's boss of ten years. His alleged action, the FIU stated, destroyed the evidence and rendered the investigation meaningless.
Explaining his ordeal, Leamah said in all of his time at the FIU, he has not been warned of any wrong doing. According to him, there are procedures that should have been followed in investigating them, instead of taking the airwave and the print media to tarnish their hard-earned characters.
Storming their offices with group of armed police officers and forcefully disconnecting their electronic machines were intimidating and against best management practice, he said.
The FIU's actions, he noted has greatly affected him, and vowed to take the rightful steps in proving his innocence.
"It (allegation) has affected my profession so badly because I don't intend to stay in Government for the next five years. And I have a deep profession in this Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Terrorist Financing. So, by publishing that information on the net, it has gone all around the world - place that I have designation in my profession they have already gotten the news, and it is going to disconnect me from the network. That's how grave it is going to be. I am a certified Anti-Money Laundering specialist."
When contacted, the FIU did not response to the pair's claims. The head of communications' phone rang with no answer.
