assets declaration/verification...

For the Period 2017/2018

March, 2019

Assets Declarat ion/ Ver i f icat ion Repor t

Assets Declaration Verification Report

January 2015 to March 2019

1 | L i b e r i a A n t i - C o r r u p t i o n C o m m i s s i o n

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................... 2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................. 3

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION.............................................................................. 5

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSET VERIFICATION EXERCISE ....................................... 5

METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 6

Subjects Selection Risk Criteria .................................................................................... 7

The 2017 Cycle - Asset Declaration .............................................................................. 9

The 2017 Cycle - Asset Verification .............................................................................. 9

The 2018 Cycle - Asset Declaration ............................................................................ 10

The 2018 Cycle Asset Verification .............................................................................. 10

FINDINGS ................................................................................................................... 11

CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 13

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... 13




LIST OF ACRONYMS

ABBREVIATION MEANING

ADB African Development Bank

CBL Central Bank of Liberia

CNDRA Center for National Documents and Archives

EPA Environment Protection Agency

EU European Union

FDA Forestry Development Authority

GAC General Auditing Commission

GSA General Services Agency

IAA Internal Audit Agency

JFK John F. Kennedy

LACC Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission

LACE Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment

LCAA Liberia Civil Aviation Authority

LIPA Liberia Institute of Public Administration

LIS Liberia Immigration Service

LMA Liberia Maritime Authority

LPRC Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company

LRA Liberia Revenue Authority

MCC Monrovia City Corporation

MFDP Ministry of Finance and Development Planning

MIA Ministry of Internal Affairs

MICAT Ministry of Information

MLME Ministry of Land, Mines & Energy

MOA-CARI Ministry of Agriculture-Central Agriculture Research Institute

MOD Ministry of Defense

MOE Ministry of Education

MOGSP Ministry of Gender and Social Protection

MOH Ministry of Health

MOL Ministry of Labor

MOS Ministry of State

MPW Ministry of Public Works

NASSCORP National Social Security Cooperation

NOCAL National Oil Company of Liberia

NPA National Port Authority

NPHI National Public Health Institute

NTA National Transit Authority

RIA Robert International Airport

SIDA Swedish Agency for International Development

UNDP United Nations Development Program

USAID United States Agency for International Development

WB World Bank




EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On 16th September 2005, Liberia officially joined the global fight against corruption by

ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the only legally binding

universal anti-corruption instrument. The Convention covers five main areas: preventive

measures, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset

recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange.

Nationally, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission was established in 2008 by an Act

of Legislature to investigate, prosecute and prevent acts of corruption of public officials

in Liberia. With the National Code of Conduct mandating the declaration of assets by all

public officials, and the LACC being the major repository and compliance enforcement

institution of such declarations, the Body of Commissioners of the LACC, resolved to

conduct periodic asset declaration verification of all public officials. Therefore, in

February 2013, the Body of Commissioners commissioned the first asset verification

regime.

In compliance with the February 2013 Body of Commissioners’ directive, the LACC

initiated the third Asset Declaration Verification exercise in September 2018, covering

the 2017 and 2018 cycles of declarations. The third Asset Declaration Verification

exercise is ongoing and Team VERITAS, the consortium of anti-graft institutions and

relevant third-party information source entities partnering with the LACC to undertake

this task, has concluded the off-site verification phase of the exercise.

The 2017 Cycle of declarations covered the period January 2015 to December 2017.

There was a total of 573 declarations, comprising 126 females and 447 male public

officials across 69 contributing ministries, agencies, corporations / commissions and

state-owned enterprises. On the other hand, the 2018 Cycle covered the period January

2018 to March 2019 and recorded a total of 344 declarations with 79 female and 265

male declarants.

Based upon pre-established risk criteria, subjects were selected from the pool of 2017

and 2018 declarants for the third asset declaration verification exercise. A total of 70

subjects were drawn from the 2017 cycle, constituting 12.22% of the overall 2017 cycle

declarations as opposed to 52 from the 2018 cycle which constitutes 15.12% of total

declaration over the period. The 2017 asset declaration verification subjects comprised




a 19:81 female to male ratio out of 30 entities, represented, while the 2018 cycle pool

contains a 33:67 female to male ratio across 26 resulting entities.

Findings from the compliance checks and thorough desk reviews of the subjects’

declarations reveal frequent instances of fixed assets declared not being registered with

relevant national agencies through which values and ownerships of said assets can be

established and cross-checked. Similarly, there were valuation inconsistencies with

some declared and otherwise documented landed properties.

The instances mentioned above are inimical to transparency, especially considering

that real properties are a major avenue for corruption and channeling of illicit wealth. To

this end, the LACC, in continuation of its asset verification engagement, shall advance

to on-site verifications and interview of subjects of such concerns.




BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION

In fulfillment of the Article 90(c) mandate of the 1986 Constitution of the Republic of

Liberia, the June 20, 2014, “ACT OF LEGISLATURE PRESCRIBING A NATIONAL

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR ALL PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE

GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA” was enacted. The National Code of

Conduct, in Part 10, provides for the Declaration and Registration of Personal Interests,

Assets and Performance/Financial Bonds by all public officials and employees of

government. The NCoC specifically states under 10.2 Repository and Contents of

Declaration, inter alia, “…All such declarations shall be accessible to both the public

employer and the general public upon a court order; as well as to the Liberia Anti-

Corruption Commission (LACC) for investigative purposes. …”. Hence, the ongoing

Asset Declaration and Verification exercises initiated by the LACC are in fulfillment of

her constitutional duties to ensure accountability and transparency in public

governance.

Asset declaration by public officials and employees of government form the basis for

engaging with declarants. Whereas the verification process is not an investigation;

however, preponderance of discrepancies and cloudiness of declarations may warrant

administrative punishment or gravitate to full-scale investigation and subsequent

prosecution, as the case may be, pursuant to Part 10.3 Sanctions for False Declaration

of the NCoC and PART IV – POWERS OF THE COMMISSION of the LACC Act.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSET VERIFICATION EXERCISE

The major objectives of the verification exercise are to establish the truthfulness of asset

declarations and also to ascertain the existence, ownership, possession (in case of

assets) and completeness (in case of liabilities) and valuation of items declared to the

LACC.

The asset declaration verification exercise is also intended to ensure that public officials

are not engaging in illegal wealth acquisition and that their official actions are in

compliance with provisions of the National Code of Conduct and relevant laws regarding

transparency and accountability.




METHODOLOGY

Team Composition

The Asset Declaration Verification (ADV) Team, code named Team VERITAS, is an

inter-agency collaborative team comprised primarily of the LACC with technical inputs

from major anti-graft institutions and relevant, public and private, third party data and

information source entities.

Team VERITAS adopted an off-site verification approach emphasizing thorough desk

reviews of declarations selected for the periods under review. The process began with

tallying declarations and assets mapping for the purpose of determining the

concentration of fixed assets across the counties. Additionally, it also disaggregated the

distribution of declarants along lines of gender, agencies and filing dates. The risk

criteria were then established to guide the process of selecting subjects.

Mixed methods were used in the verification process. Due to the limited time available

to the team for the exercise, the scope was narrowed to assessing financials reported

and real estate listed by the declarants.

The depth of the exercise equally matched the scope due to the same time constraint.

Hence, the team used prima facie to check the veracity of the information provided by

the declarants. A basis check was used to ascertain whether the statements appear

properly completed or if there are obvious incorrect entries, or missing information.

Additionally, the team used simple verification to determine whether the declared assets

appear sufficiently accounted for by declared/legal sources of income or whether

declared data appear to indicate suspicious activities.

Partial audit also formed part of the verification methods. In this case, third party data

was used to compare the stated data provided by the declarants.

Preliminary processing considered the following: material mistakes; incorrect

completion; mistaken responses; arithmetic and logical checking; accuracy of the

evaluation of the assets declared; accuracy of the financial sources declared;

sufficiency of the coverage of assets with the declared sources, and to some extent, the

verification of the accuracy of the data included in the declaration form.




Declarations were cross-checked for compliance and completeness as well as clarity of

declared liabilities. All assets, as much as possible, were cross-checked with available

relevant third-party data sources. Banking information were also cross-checked against

relevant third party data sources. Non-compliances were then catalogued for further

consideration.

Subjects Selection Risk Criteria

Following are the risk criteria used in the selection of subjects for the 2017 Cycle

valuation exercise:

1. High-spending ministries, agencies and state-owned enterprises. The key points

of reference are the national budgets (FY 2015 – 2018). Selection was made

based on volume of allotments to entities over the period under consideration.

2. High revenue- and income-generating entities.

3. A component 15% random selection based on public opinion and frequent

discussion of subjects along lines of accountability and transparency over the

period under consideration

4. An additional component of 5% based on open-source information and

5. Gender sensitivity over the entire sample space of the respective cycles.

Institutions Actual 2015/16 Actual 2016/17 Actual 2017/18

National Public Health Institute 196,883.00 65,316.00 3,396,925.00

Monrovia City Corporation 2,564,945.00 3,548,036.00 750,000.00

Central Bank of Liberia 2,876,905.00 3,290,654.00

Environment Protection Agency 1,702,194.00 2,669,885.00 1,597,245.00

Robert International Airport 4,443,653.00 11,360,436.00

Liberia Civil Aviation Authority 10,786,619.00

Ministry of State 17,737,047.00 20,417,291.00 8,573,657.00

Ministry of Labor 1,858,067.00 1,597,821.00 1,401,291.00

Forestry Development Authority 4,291,898.00 5,769,058.00 4,841,645.00

General Services Agency 1,890,697.00 2,502,052.00 194,317.00

Ministry of Internal Affairs 9,885,349.00 12,973,116.00 10,638,268.00

Liberia Immigration Service 4,056,562.00 5,608,674.00 5,529,722.00

Ministry of Information 3,546,914.00 3,189,753.00 2,703,135.00

National Archives (CNDKA) 896,154.00 824,586.00 738,366.00

Ministry of Defense 12,738,531.00 14,419,263.00 16,042,785.00

NASSCORP 32,006,589.00 12,403,153.00 19,854,231.00




Institutions Actual 2015/16 Actual 2016/17 Actual 2017/18

LACE 493,238.00 605,116.00 1,498,380.00

National Transit Authority 2,662,169.00 2,089,496.00 1,867,324.00

Ministry of Education 78,918,570.00 40,141,722.00 40,180,316.00

Ministry of Health 64,454,376.00 40,669,008.00 44,306,339.00

Ministry of Agriculture-CARI 3,794,735.00 3,049,755.00 1,884,187.00

Ministry of Gender 2,922,575.00 3,831,147.00 2,580,120.00

Liberia Revenue Authority 18,747,242.00 17,954,280.00 16,566,501.00

Ministry of Finance and

Development Planning 54,392,260.00 44,363,246.00 29,206,688.00

LPRC 44,952,334.00 7,497,590.00 16,858,679.00

National Port Authority 23,040,369.00 23,317,160.00 16,980,985.00

Ministry of Land, Mines & Energy 2,828,398.00 2,702,230.00 2,214,396.00

Ministry of Public Works 41,461,742.00 25,082,556.00 7,218,033.00

Liberia Maritime Authority 11,820,823.00 7,851,581.00 7,252,690.00

LIPA 1,156,946.00 164,544.00 1,017,470.00

LACC 2,584,287.00 2,386,116.00 2,119,315.00

General Auditing Commission 5,674,562.00 5,297,394.00 4,978,784.00

Internal Audit Agency 3,676,536.00 4,820,434.00 3,882,387.00

NOCAL 5,936,236.00 4,157,660.00 2,686,438.00

JFK 5,895,357.00 5,066,941.00 5,592,960.00

Total 473,228,238.00 341,273,321.00 299,230,852.00

-

20,000,000.00

40,000,000.00

60,000,000.00

80,000,000.00

Sum of Actual 2015/16 Sum of Actual 2016/17 Sum of Actual 2017/18




The 2017 Cycle - Asset Declaration

The 2017 Asset Declaration Cycle, abridged as 2017 Cycle, span January 2015 to

October 2017. It comprises a total of 573 declarations with a 78:22 male to female

declarants ratio across 68 contributing entities of the Executive Branch of Government

and a noteworthy individual political aspirant. It must be pointed out that there were

fewer than 3 instances where a sitting public official was assigned to a different or higher

office, thus prompting a fresh declaration given the circumstance. Such declarations are

treated here as independent and not a duplication.

Of the total declarations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs contributed 15.01%, followed by

the Liberia Revenue Authority with 8.2%, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with 5.58%,

NASSCORP with 3.49% and the Ministry of Public Works with 3.14%. The Central Bank

of Liberia is ahead of the remaining list of 63 other contributing entities along with an

individual private citizen.

The 2017 Cycle - Asset Verification

Upon the risks criteria set for selection of subjects for verification in the 2017 Cycle, the

process proceeded. A total of 70 declarations were selected for verification out of the

pool of 573, constituting 12.22%. Drawn from a total of 30 entities, the 2017 Cycle

verification pool comprise 18.57% females and 81.43% males. The LRA and MPW each

account for 10% of total declarations verified. LACC, MFDP, MOH and NASSCORP

follow with 5.71% each of total declarations verified. The Ministries of Lands, Mines and

Energy, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry and the Public Procurement and

Concessions Commission share the third highest frequency with 4.29% each. The

remaining 20 contributing entities constitute a combined 40% of total declarations

verified in the 2017 Cycle.




The 2018 Cycle - Asset Declaration

The 2018 Cycle span March 2018 to March 2019 and recorded a total of 344

declarations. Of this amount, total female declarations constitute 23% compared to 77%

male. There were submissions from a total of 80 entities of the Executive Branch of

Government, including the Presidency. The Ministry of Internal Affairs contributed the

most declaration with 9.3%, followed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with 4.65% and

the Ministries of Education, Justice, State for Presidential Affairs, Public Works and the

National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority each contributing in the range of 3%. The

remaining 73 contributing entities formed a combined 69.77% of total declarations.

The 2018 Cycle Asset Verification

A total of 52 declarations were selected out of a pool of 344 for verification in the 2018

Cycle. This constitutes 15.12% of total declarations. The 2018 Asset Verification Cycle

of subjects comprise 32.69% women and 67.31% men across 26 contributing entities

with the Center for National Documentation and Records and the Ministry of Public

Works each accounting for 8.82% of total verifications. The Forestry Development

Authority, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the

Ministry of Labor jointly contribute an even spread of 24% of total verifications. The

remaining 20 contributing entities account for a cumulative 58.82%.

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

LRA

MP

W

LAC

C

MFD

P

MO

H

NA

SSC

OR

P

MLM

E

MO

A

MO

CI

PP

CC

FDA

LAA

LNP

LPR

C

LTA

MIC

AT

MO

D

MO

E

CB

L

LBR

LBS

LISG

IS

LMA

MFA

MO

GC

SP

MO

T

MSP

A

NA

C

NIC

NSA

VERIFICATION DISTRIBUTION - 2017 CYCLE

FREQUENCY % COMPOSITION




FINDINGS

1.0 Complete banking information not disclosed.

There was a single instance where a declarant declared only one account. Considering

that all public officials receive salaries (Liberian Dollar and US Dollars components)

through banks, all declarants must have two bank accounts. Therefore, a declarant who

only provided one account is suspected to have at least one undisclosed alternative

account.

1.1 Suspicious bank loans and repayment plans.

Team VERITAS found 1 instance where bank loan was advanced to a declarant with

repayment scheduled for a 12-month period. Further examination of the loan in

comparison to the declarant’s income, as indicated in the asset declarations, reflects

that even the declarant’s sworn, combined gross salary and allowance would not be

sufficient to absorb or liquidate the amount borrowed by the declarant within the agreed

repayment period. The suspicion surrounding the amount borrowed and the repayment

period vis-a-vis the declarant’s sworn income could provide a basis for illicit fund flows

as well as money laundering.

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

4.00%

5.00%

6.00%

7.00%

8.00%

9.00%

10.00%

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

VERIFICATION DISTRIBUTION - 2018 CYCLE

FREQUENCY % COMPOSITION




1.2 Acquisition/appreciation of real property under “unexplained circumstance”.

About 2 properties declared do not commensurate with the income of the declarants.

Consequently, the value of properties accumulated over said period far outweighs the

cumulative salaries and allowances generated during the same period. This creates

more questions as to how the properties were financed, if the salaries and allowances

were the only sources of income for declarants in this category. It is important to note

that real property accumulation is one method by which illicit or ill-gotten wealth is

hidden.

1.3 Real properties declared not registered with the Liberia Revenue Authority.

Thirty percent (30%) of properties declared by subjects were discovered not to be

registered with the Liberia Revenue Authority real estate registry. Indication is that these

properties are not tax compliant and this is a grave transgression of 4.1 Responsibility

to the State and the Public Service of the National Code of Conduct which provides

that “All public officials and employees of government have constitutional and civic

responsibilities …over and above the good conduct and ethical issues… He or she

therefore shall uphold the Constitution and abide by laws, statutes, rules and regulations

of the Republic of Liberia….” And real property tax compliance is both a civic and

constitutional responsibility.

1.4 Conflicting property valuation.

There are 28% of instances of notarized property valuations declared by subjects with

the LACC that do not commensurate with values declared with the LRA.




CONCLUSIONS

The methods applied led to the identification of some manifest discrepancies between

the declarations and third party sources. After the examination of subject’s declarations,

it became evident that 40% of real estate declared presented one or more discrepancies

ranging from conflicting valuation to non-registration and tax non-compliance.

The “unexplained” financial trends of real property acquisition or appreciation observed

over the periods under review were reflected in 5% of subjects’ declarations.

In order to address the discrepancies and material misrepresentations, the LACC will

further investigate the declarants suspected of the various transgressions listed in the

findings. Based on further findings, appropriate sanctions will be recommended in

keeping with the National Code of Conduct for Public Officials and other related penal

laws.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Body of Commissioners of the LACC extends sincere thanks and appreciation to

the Government of the Republic of Liberia, especially the President, His Excellency, Dr.

George Manneh Weah, for the continuous support to the work and operation of the

Commission in its fight against corruption.

We also seize the opportunity to thank our many international partners for the sustained

support – financial and capacity building – in equipping us to fight corruption and foster

the cultures of accountability and transparency. We especially thank the European

Union, through her National Authorizing Office, the United States Agency for

International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),

the World Bank, the Swedish Agency for International Development (SIDA), the African

Development Bank, etc. for your unwavering partnership and support.

Our deep appreciation goes to all collaborating agencies that partnered with us to make

this undertaking a success – the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), The General Auditing

Commission (GAC), and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA). Finally, our sincere thanks

goes to Team VERITAS for the commitment and dedication you demonstrated in




making this task an awesome reality. Your service to country and your resolute

professionalism are commendable.