Former Deputy Finance and Development Planning Minister for Fiscal Affairs, Dr. James F. Kollie, Jr., says the delisting of his name by Solicitor General Cyrenus Cephus from the list of interested person is not enough.
Dr. Kollie who currently heads the Liberia Maritime Authority or LMA says a pronouncement by Cllr. Cephus, which appears to have been an adjustment of the list of interested person, which has seen is name omitted does not address any of his concerns.
He insists that he is still seeking answers from Cllr. Cephus to explain how he got implicated in anEU13 million missing money, whether there was an audit or not.
On Wednesday June 19, Cllr. Cephus issued a list in reference to a General Auditing Commission or GAC Audit reports over the period July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017 in which he mentioned Dr. Kollie as one of the persons of interest.
The listing was followed by an interview conducted by the Analyst newspaper at which time the papers quotes Cllr. Cephusas saying that the Justice Department has put together a team of professional criminal investigators and lawyers called the Assets Recovery Team or ART to recover monies that were stolen or unaccounted for under the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf regime as contained in several audits.
However, on Thursday July 4, 2019, Cllr. Cephus revealed a revised version of the list of persons of interest this time omitting Dr. Kollie’s name.
In a chat with this paper Friday, Dr. Kollie said the newly confirmed Solicitor General did not answer the questions he raised in his June 19, 2019 letter.
“I asked for the basis upon which he palced my name. He hasn’t said it was a mistake or there is an audit report or it was just based on news report. I still want to know.”
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It could be recalled that Dr. Kollie, in a Letter dated on the same June 19, 2019 requests that Cllr. Cephus provides him the particular audit report that name him in a missing US$13 million.
“I present you greetings and wish to respectfully inquire about the basis upon which my name was mentioned on a list of ‘persons of interest’ issued by you on 19 June 2019, Dr. Kollie writes.
“Cllr. Cephas, because the list made reference to GAC Audit Reports for the period July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017, I really do want to know the following:
1. Is there actually any audit report by the GAC on $13 million provided by the European Union?
2. Did that report, if it exists, ever mentioned my name?
3. Does that report have any responses from me in it?
4. Is the mentioned of me or anyone purely on the basis of unsubstantiated media and press reports?
Cllr. Cephas, I am constrained to ask these questions because to the best of my knowledge, no auditor have ever asked me any question about EU $13 million and so for your press statement to claim that there is a GAC Audit report is totally surprising and baffling.
And if there is no GAC Audit Report, Cllr. Cephas, I want you to imagine the irreparable damage that you have caused to our reputation. For example, Boima S. Kamara was not even working at the Ministry of Finance in 2013 (the period of the purported report) and so it would be impossible for him to have been involved in any audit at that time.
Honorable Solicitor General (designate), I am hoping that you will take these questions in good faith and do everything you can to respond so that the record can be set straight.”By Othello B. Garblah
