Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took responsibility of the insolvency of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) following reports of foul-play and financial misconduct spearheaded by his son, Robert Alvin Sirleaf, who she appointed as Chairman of the Board.
Several years after leaving office without being called to book by the government that succeeded her, Liberians are wondering if ongoing anti-graft efforts by the current government will extend to her time in office, and who dares pay the prize for the woes of NOCAL.
The Boakai-led Government's anti-corruption dragnet that saw the arrest and jailing of former officials of the erstwhile government of former President George Weah has refreshed memories of other hardcore corruption allegations that engulfed the administration of ex-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, including the NOCAL insolvency debacle.
These latest actions, which are being welcomed and considered heroic in nipping this 'enemy #1' in the bud, also leaves many pondering whether the government is contemplating on extending its campaign to cover alleged wrongful actions of that particular administration.
Last week, the government indicted former officials including former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, National Security Advisor Jefferson Karmoh, former Solicitor General Cllr. Nyenati Tuan, ex-Comptroller of the Financial Intelligence Unit (now FIA) D. Moses P. Cooper, and former Director General of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) Stanley Ford.
Cllr. Tuan, Karmoh, and Cooper were jail after failing to present a criminal appearance bond, as they could not afford the amount required for economic sabotage, and Judge Ben Barcon rejected their request for a personal recognizance bond, despite their prominence.
In its efforts to revitalize the ailing economy after years of war, the Ellen Government turned attention to offshore exploration of crude oil in its territorial waters in a bid to attract and land some of world's topnotch oil companies invest into the bourgeoning sector.
On 29 August 2010, the government of Liberia announced it had granted Chevron Corp. concessions to explore three deepwater areas for offshore oil in a three-year program. The government also granted exploration rights to a number of other companies, including Repsol Exploration SA, Woodside West Africa Pty Ltd., Regal Liberia Ltd., and Anadarko Petroleum Corp, most of which were subject to legislative approval.
Also qualified for offshore exploration of oil was ExxonMobil, an American company with huge global reputation in the oil and gas industry, present almost on every continent of oil prospects and potential.
On behalf of the government, the National Oil Company of Liberia, NOCAL, which was established to the effect, oversaw the offshore oil exploration arrangements with international companies, of which millions of dollars of exploration fees will paid to help to support the national budget.
After years of exceptional financial boom, NOCAL was hit by huge financial hemorrhage and eventually became insolvent as a consequence of huge bonuses paid to board members coupled with other outlandish spending regime.
The insolvency of NOCAL also coincided with reports of institutional corruption that plagued the government and drew national concern, some of which the former president took actions against.
The Robert Slrleaf defense
In a report released by Global Witness, Sirleaf's role was highlighted as one of government officials that received fabulous bonuses in the deal, but denied that NOCAL management that negotiated the Oil Block 13 contract with Exxon-mobil did nothing wrong and the process was transparent.
"One recipient was Robert Sirleaf, who was the oil agency's Chairman and, as son of then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was reportedly working pro bono. The officials state that these large payments - which amounted to 160 percent of a minister's salary - were "bonuses" authorized by the oil agency's Board of Directors. The payments were probably made from the same bank account into which Exxon had just deposited $5 million for Block 13, although there is no evidence that Exxon itself directed or knew about payments to oficials," Global Witness investigative report was quoted by newspublictrust.
Under former President Weah, a special committee of inquiry found the way bonuses were paid dubious (with some individuals getting US$35,000 each) and recommended that Robert and others be made to pay back the huge bonuses they took.
Mr. Sirleaf is quoted to admitting to the disbursement of bonuses of up to US$500,000.00 reported in a recent Global Witness investigative report, but insisted that it was done with the approval of the NOCAL Board.
"The Board deliberated and approved the decision to pay bonus to the members of the HTC, Board of Directors, Senior Officers and Staff of NOCAL. The decision was documented in the Board Minutes and a Board Resolution was drawn up and approved by the Board of Directors authorizing the transaction," Robert Sirleaf said in a statement released to the media then.
"The Global Witness report that precipitated the current discussion, and the discussion on social media reflects little understanding of the facts underlying the decision of the Government of Liberia to enter into that contract," he said.
The former NOCAL Board Chair, said the General Auditing Commission (GAC) in May 2017 completed the fiscal audit of NOCAL covering the Exxon-Mobil transaction during the period covering July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2015 when the Exxon-Mobil transaction.
"To the best of my recollection, the disbursement of the bonus to each category of people named above followed NOCAL's internal financial disbursement procedure and was drawn on NOCAL's operating account held with ECOBANK," Mr. Sirleaf went on saying.
Though felt short of saying whether he would pay back his US$35,000 share of the bonuses, he however expressed satisfaction to have cooperated with the special presidential committee of inquiry.
"I answered the questions asked by the committee and provided the necessary information to aid the committees in its investigation," the former NOCAL boss bragged.
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Mr. Sirleaf used the time to dismiss claims that the dishing out of the half a million US dollars bonuses and his milking of NOCAL led to NOCAL's bankruptcy, and claimed that he left close to US$20 million in the NOCAL coffers when he resigned as head of the Board.
"I would like to point out that NOCAL had approximately US$18,000,000 in its accounts at the time I resigned in September 2013, after the payment of the bonuses, and received an additional $8,000,000 in connection with the renegotiation of certain seismic data revenue sharing agreements in late 2013.That's a total of a documented $25,000,000 it had at its disposal after I left the NOCAL Board," Robert Sirleaf said.
Subsequent audit carried out at NOCAL reportedly discovered a whooping US$32 million unaccounted for and the institution became virtually insolvent.
In the heat of debate and growing public pressure about the insolvent state of NOCAL, former President Sirleaf took responsibility of the depletion of the NOCAL coffers.
Weighing in on ex-President Sirleaf's comments then, Movement for Progressive Change (MPC) Simeon Freeman said it was a 'cheap political comment,' saying she failed to explain whether or not those who led NOCAL to bankruptcy will be prosecuted.
Though she initially took responsibility for the problems that beset NOCAL at the time, former President shockingly said in an interview on Al Jazeera that at no point in time did NOCAL went bankrupt.
