Baba Mohammed Boika, program manager for monitoring and investigations at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), took the stand Monday as the prosecution's first witness in the US$6 million corruption case involving former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah Jr. and several former officials of the National Security Council. In detailed testimony, Boika alleged that statements made by the Director General of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Stanley S. Forh, directly connected the defendants to the commission of the crimes.
According to Boika, the LACC's Board of Commissioners -- acting in its role as an integrity institution -- invited Forh to a conference to brief the Commission on the circumstances surrounding the allegation. Forh honored the invitation and appeared before the LACC, sitting with the commissioners in a closed session. He was accompanied by Cllr. Nyanti Tuan, who presented himself as one of Forh's legal counsel, alongside Cllr. Gould, Boika testified.
During that session, Boika said, Forh conceded that the amount at the center of the controversy was not limited to the US$500,000 figure reported in the press. "In fact, he admitted that the sum under discussion was larger than what had been published," Boika told the court.
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Boika further testified that Forh clarified the intended purpose of the funds: they were not meant for the FIA's institutional use but were designated for the Joint Security apparatus. When commissioners pressed for specifics -- what the money was ultimately used for and who benefited -- Forh declined to elaborate, citing national security concerns. He maintained that he had nothing further to add beyond what he had already disclosed to the Commission.
Immediately after that meeting, Boika said, the Board of Commissioners authorized the LACC's Department of Investigation to open a full-scale inquiry. "As a result, all concerned parties were formally invited for interviews, and relevant records were obtained and analyzed," Boika testified. Those invited included the five defendants as well as senior officials from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL).
Investigators first interviewed Forh, Boika said. Forh told them that on July 5, 2023, he received a communication dated the same day and signed by Jefferson Karmoh -- then Security Advisor to the President -- which formally admitted the FIA as a member of the Joint Security and assigned it the security code "800."
Exactly two months later, on September 5, 2023, Forh received another letter, this time signed by Cllr. Nyanti Tuan, informing him that the Joint Security had secured funding for its operations during that year's electoral process. According to Boika's recounting of Forh's statement, the letter indicated that once the funds became available, the FIA had been designated as the channel through which the money would be disbursed -- on the understanding that the funds would be withdrawn and turned over to the Joint Security.
Boika testified that Forh said he acted on instructions he received from Tuan, who at the time served as Acting Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Liberia and was purporting to act as the Acting Chairman of the Joint Security. Pursuant to Tuan's directive, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning transferred the funding in question to the FIA's operational account. The funds were subsequently withdrawn and, according to Forh, turned over to the Joint Security.
When investigators asked Forh to identify which member of the Joint Security received the money, he said he could not say and referred the question to Tuan, who was then acting as chair, Boika testified. Forh did not produce documentary evidence showing that the funds were actually handed over to any member of the Joint Security, nor did he demonstrate that the money was used for national security operations.
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The next person investigators invited was Sam D. Cooper, the FIA's Comptroller, in whose name the withdrawals were made. Cooper appeared before investigators and admitted that the funds were indeed transferred into the FIA's account, Boika said. Cooper explained that, acting on instructions from his superior, Forh, he raised several cheques in his own name, signed them in his official capacity, and had them approved by the appropriate authority within the FIA for processing and disbursement.
Boika's testimony -- the first for the prosecution -- seeks to establish the money trail, the role of the FIA as a conduit, and the involvement of senior officials who allegedly directed and facilitated the transactions.
The trial continues.
