The United States Ambassador to Liberia, Christine Elder discloses that scooping investigation into the alleged missing 16 billion Liberian bank notes is complete and will be released to the public shortly.
Ambassador made the disclosure in Monrovia Thursday, while revealing that the Government of the United States has announced its intention to support Liberia’s Pro-Poor Agenda with a planned budget of approximately US$112 million for the 2018 fiscal year.
The latest move by the U.S. government strong suggests that findings into the alleged missing 16bn Liberian bank notes might turn out positively in favor of the Weah Administration.
The Government of Liberia thru the Ministry of Justice few months ago confirmed ongoing investigation “surrounding the arrival of containers and bags of moneys into the country, by and thru the Freeport of Monrovia and the Roberts International Airport, and that initial findings indicate that the containers and bags of moneys allegedly arrived between November 2017, prior to the inauguration of the current Government, and August 2018” after the inception of the Weah administration.
The authorities here set up presidential investigative team besides asking the United States government for assistance in the ongoing investigation. However, the current Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia Nathaniel Patray, says no money is missing.
“The Central Bank of Liberia wants to clarify to the general public and our partners in progress that there is no 16 billion Liberian Dollars missing, as has been erroneously reported in the media. The CBL has no records showing that monies printed and under its authority have not yet been delivered into its reserve vaults. Records from Crane Currency of Sweden, which was contracted to print the money, show that Crane delivered L$15.5 billion through the Freeport of Monrovia and the Roberts International Airport between 2016 and 2018, and that all these monies were logged by the CBL and delivered into the reserve vaults of the CBL”, Governor Patray maintains.
However, the U.S. Embassy thru a press release issued in Monrovia Thursday, 13 December notes that the planned support for Liberia was announced in a Joint Statement of Collaboration between the Governments of Liberia and the United States released Thursday.
According to the statement signed in Monrovia by President George Manneh Weah and the United States Ambassador to Liberia Christine Elder, both countries will continue to work to fulfill the responsibilities they have assumed in connection with their collaborative efforts
Both countries expressed their intention “to actively collaborate in exploring the most sustainable ways to achieve the inclusive growth goals of Liberia’s pro-poor agenda,” according to the press release.In particular, the United States, acting through its Agency for International Development (USAID), will seek to help Liberia effectively and transparently manage its journey to self-reliance.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
In that connection, USAID intends to use its assistance to Liberia to prioritize inclusive economic development as the fundamental driver of change in Liberia. USAID also intends to pursue interventions in the areas of health, education, agriculture, and democracy and governance.For its part, the Government of Liberia expressed its intention to utilize development assistance as a tool for transforming Liberia as it moves forward on its journey to self-reliance.
As part of that effort, the Liberian Government is committed to, among other things, institute policy reforms necessary for broad-based private sector led-growth; more effective and accountable governance; and improved health and education for Liberians.
