- Nimba County Sen. Samuel G. Kogar has asked President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to take the head of the Liberia National Police out of the country's cocaine investigation, either by suspending him or requiring his recusal, in a force whose own commanders the police chief has already charged with escorting the largest drug consignment ever seized in Liberia.
"Specifically, I recommend the suspension of the Inspector General of the Liberia National Police while the investigation is ongoing or, alternatively, that the Inspector General recuse himself from any involvement in the investigation," Kogar posted to Facebook.
Kogar said the step should not be read as a finding of guilt but as a preventive measure to remove any real or perceived conflict of interest.
"This recommendation is consistent with my position that where the leadership of a security agency may become connected to or implicated in an ongoing investigation, appropriate steps should be taken to avoid any appearance of conflict and to ensure impartiality, transparency, and public confidence in the process," he said.
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The Police IG told a Ministry of Information press briefing on July 30 that serving police commanders had escorted the cocaine from the landing site to the holding ground, using police vehicles front and back, and named the chief of highway patrol and the chief of major crimes, both detained at police headquarters and due in court that day. It was the first time the state accused officers of moving the narcotics rather than of interfering with the investigation afterward.An LDEA report identifies the two as Anthony T. Blaye, chief of the LNP's Financial Crime Division, and Wadell W. Kwarbo, chief of the Highway Patrol Section, and alleges they used police vehicles to escort shipments and took cash for it.
The report says an officer of the National Security Agency arranged for the pair to help move the cocaine to Thinker Village in Paynesville on May 29, that they trailed a van and truck in marked police vehicles the next morning, and that US$10,000 was later handed over at a military barracks and split, with US$5,000 each going to Blaye and Kwarbo.
A week earlier, Coleman had removed another senior officer. He told reporters on July 23 that Johnny Dean was dismissed after investigators found he had compromised the integrity of the investigation by assisting suspects already in custody, and that Dean admitted receiving US$10,000 in connection with the case. Coleman said Dean was not implicated in the trafficking itself.
The Executive Mansion said he dismissed the commissioner of police for criminal investigation, intelligence and INTERPOL, the deputy director for operations at Roberts International Airport and a deputy director for administration at the National Security Agency, recalled an officer seconded to the LDEA and suspended him without pay, and ordered the dismissal of all government employees and law enforcement officers indicted over the seizure of 198 plates of cocaine at the airport and 3,971 plates taken from the premises of two foreign nationals. Twelve officials were dismissed in all.
Kogar is the second senator in as many weeks to ask that the police chief step back. Sinoe County Sen. Augustine S. Chea, who chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petitions, said in a statement on his Facebook page that the inspector general and other senior security officials should step aside, and that the credibility of the whole security apparatus is in question. Chea's statement followed LDEA Officer-in-Charge Fitzgerald T.M. Biago's decision to seek temporary recusal over his reported receipt of a vehicle from individuals allegedly linked to trafficking.
Kogar made a version of the same demand on July 1, at a Senate hearing on the airport seizure, when he called for Coleman, Biago and NSA officials to be suspended. Coleman's response drew an instruction from senators to retract it and apologize, which he did.
Coleman has also said the trafficking had official protection. Traffickers would not have risked bringing in narcotics on that scale without assistance, he said.
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The call came as Boakai moved to restructure the LDEA, nominating retired Maj. Gen. Daniel Dee Ziankahn Jr. as director general, pending Senate confirmation, with Precious Rue as deputy director general for operations and Prince Mulbah as deputy director general for administration.
Kogar welcomed those appointments.
"I wish to commend His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Liberia, for the recent appointments within the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency," he said. "These appointments demonstrate the President's commitment to strengthening Liberia's security sector and advancing the fight against illicit drugs, which continue to pose a serious threat to our nation's stability and development."
He said he would support the incoming leadership, whose training and public service he said would matter as the agency works to rebuild confidence.
