Liberia: 'I Have No Foreign Account' - Suspended Minister of State Debunks 'Frozen UBA Account' Report

Liberian President George Weah at a U.S. Embassy event in Monrovia in 2019.

Monrovia — Suspended Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill has denied having bank accounts in Ghana or any other part of the world besides Liberia.

His clarification comes in the wake of reports that his UBA Account in Ghana has been frozen. According to the report, the account which contained over US$4 million has been blocked based on sanctions from the sanction committee.

"I am one official of the government who does not have any foreign bank account. GAC or whoever can audit me, I don't have any foreign account, neither am I a signatory to the Ministry of State's account. I don't take government money," Min. McGill told FPA.

Min. McGill, Solicitor General Syrennius Cephus, and the Managing Director of the National Port Authority Bill Twehway were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this week for their involvement in corruption.

"Through their corruption, these officials have undermined democracy in Liberia for their own personal benefit," said Brian Nelson, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Meanwhile, FrontPageAfrica has gathered that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has imposed a Post-No-Debit on the accounts of the sanctioned trio.

A post-no-debit means that all debit transactions, including those involving the use of automated teller machines (ATMs) and cheques, on an account, have been blocked.

The Post-no-debit is a temporary measure taken by the FIU while it seeks a freezing order from the court.

The post-no-debit is, however, not strong as the freezing order as the affected officials would have access to their respective accounts after the expiration of the post-no-debt in seven days.

FrontPageAfrica further gathered that the Central Bank of Liberia and commercial banks in Liberia are now refraining from doing business with the sanctioned officials since they all do corresponding banking in the United States.

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