By: ralph geeplay
This week,
the former Board Chair of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, Negbalee
Warner took his case to the public in a press conference he called to give reasons
why he left his lucrative more than 4.000 dollars job. Warner, a prominent
Liberian lawyer is also the former Head of Secretariat of the Liberia
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI). His recent press
conference has received the buzz in the media, because reports say he has
credibility, and his revelations if proven right could help President Sirleaf's drive to root out corruption in govt.
Three years ago, Warner worked for Sirleaf. When Liberia
needed to fast track its transparency in the way it resources were being
offered to foreign firms and the way the country’s resources were being handled,
in the post war era, especially, considering that the Charles Taylor had
criminalized Liberia's resources in the wake of the Liberian war, President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf called upon Warner to head the initiative, and he did it in
record time. Those efforts culminated in world recognition for Liberia’s
efforts in 2009, at the LEITI 10th Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, when Liberia became
the first compliant country in Africa and second in the world, to have reached
and completed the benchmark. Observers say, Johnson Sirleaf, rewarded Warner
with the plumb LPRC Board Chair position based on his performance at the LEITI,
when another Board Chair Professor Wilson Tarpeh was suddenly withdrawn last
year, because of malfeasance.
Warner departure from the company is “unheard of in a Liberia where, when you come down to it, ‘it’s all about the benjamins” says an analyst. Warner threw the gauntlet upon his resignation; challenging the management team of T. Nelson Williams to prove him wrong. Williams was also honored last month as president at the Jan. 19, Paynesville Town Hall high profile gathering during a rechartering ceremony of the Eta Epsilon Lambda chapter, marking a triumphant return of Alpha Phi Alpha to Liberian since the 1980s, the president and the United States ambassador accredited near Monrovia, H.E. Linda Thomas Greenfield were at the investiture. Amongst those so honored was Reverend Emmanuel Bowier, a former minster of information in the Samuel Doe government. Bowier is also a board member of the LPRC.In his allegations, Warner said other board members were displeased with the way the company is being run, but none has come forward to corroborate his story.
The former LEITI head of secretariat is alleging that the management is inept and less than candid with its financial transactions. It is also important to note, that the LPRC is a publicly owned company bereft with challenges as far as anyone can imagine. Analysts say all of its past managing directors some how left the company well off, or left the company under some sort of shady deal, dating back to the Tolbert administration, amongst them Cletus Wotorson, Edwin Snowe, Lewis Browne, Harry Greaves, etc.
“Warner’s revelations are eye opening,” said Nancy Timbah. “The counter claims by the LPRC so far to contradict his story are falling before the goal post and not registering any goals.” Several persons who have voiced their opinions on the issue say Warner’s condemnation of the company are indicting and stinging. For example, he said a contract with the Scottish company Motherwell which is about US$22.0 Million, “states no definite contract price.” Warner was precise in his comment of the company’s management when he said; the LPRC management paid Motherwell 900,000 dollars for a service and got no guaranteed from the Scottish company that it would delivered the contract. He back that up by saying that with well into a year period, the company is yet to deliver the service for the monies paid. He also accused the LPRC management of assuming tax obligation on behalf of Motherwell and that the corporation was also keeping secret the deal from the board until recently, “that the Management of LPRC would enter into a contract of this nature without approval of the Board or subsequent notice to the Board for more than one year speaks to the overall management environment at the corporation and the way it is sustained.” He said. But these are not the claims that are being responded to by the LPRC management, according to reports. The company is arguing that Warner wrote the president and told the Board that he was leaving the company because he was on eight other boards and was busy with his law practice."...And these are not the substantive issue at bar," says Mustapha Jalloh.
Warner is also reproving the manner in which the Japanese donated oil was sold and handled. He claims the sale of the petroleum products that that the Liberian government entered into with the Japanese government should have generated about US$18M dollars if the product was sold on the market for about 4.00, with total initial value of the oil being US$13,083,350.00 . The Japanese, donated petroleum products according Warner were worth about “15,000 metric ton of mixed oil products, which was delivered to the LPRC for monetization on behalf of the Government.”
LPRC in its press notes have confirmed that US$8.5m was deposited in the escrow account at the Central Bank of Liberia, by Aminata oil, and the rest of the money went to administrative costs and Aminata profits. Several persons who have commented on the issue said, the management of the LPRC was not addressing these issues Warner raised head on. The rebuttals are saying the company is profitable, and that it has given its employees bonus. “On December 20, 2011, the Board of Directors approved a year-end bonus of 75% of one (1) month salary to the Management, Staff and Employees of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) in appreciation of their collective contributions to the continuous improvement in the profitability posture of LPRC. As a consequence of the above, net profit for 2011 was US$6.92 Million Dollars as compared to US$5.2 Million Dollars in 2010 and cash reserve now stands at US$11.5 Million Dollars as of January 30, 2012”. The Board of Directors said in their reaction to Warner’s statement. It also said it was studying Warner’s allegations and would address them soon.
The General Auditing Commission is said to be looking into the current allegations made by Mr. Warner. These allegations pundits say comes at an important time in President Sirleaf's second term, having promise to take a vigorous posture against impropriety and corruption in the Liberian government if she won re-election. Those who know Warner says he harbors political ambitions, having served as student leader of the Student Integration Movement (SIM) at the University of Liberia during the 1990s. How this case develops and ends analysts say could also determined his political future, in an era when ‘generational change’ is a loaded slogan in the palace of Liberian politics.
Warner departure from the company is “unheard of in a Liberia where, when you come down to it, ‘it’s all about the benjamins” says an analyst. Warner threw the gauntlet upon his resignation; challenging the management team of T. Nelson Williams to prove him wrong. Williams was also honored last month as president at the Jan. 19, Paynesville Town Hall high profile gathering during a rechartering ceremony of the Eta Epsilon Lambda chapter, marking a triumphant return of Alpha Phi Alpha to Liberian since the 1980s, the president and the United States ambassador accredited near Monrovia, H.E. Linda Thomas Greenfield were at the investiture. Amongst those so honored was Reverend Emmanuel Bowier, a former minster of information in the Samuel Doe government. Bowier is also a board member of the LPRC.In his allegations, Warner said other board members were displeased with the way the company is being run, but none has come forward to corroborate his story.
The former LEITI head of secretariat is alleging that the management is inept and less than candid with its financial transactions. It is also important to note, that the LPRC is a publicly owned company bereft with challenges as far as anyone can imagine. Analysts say all of its past managing directors some how left the company well off, or left the company under some sort of shady deal, dating back to the Tolbert administration, amongst them Cletus Wotorson, Edwin Snowe, Lewis Browne, Harry Greaves, etc.
“Warner’s revelations are eye opening,” said Nancy Timbah. “The counter claims by the LPRC so far to contradict his story are falling before the goal post and not registering any goals.” Several persons who have voiced their opinions on the issue say Warner’s condemnation of the company are indicting and stinging. For example, he said a contract with the Scottish company Motherwell which is about US$22.0 Million, “states no definite contract price.” Warner was precise in his comment of the company’s management when he said; the LPRC management paid Motherwell 900,000 dollars for a service and got no guaranteed from the Scottish company that it would delivered the contract. He back that up by saying that with well into a year period, the company is yet to deliver the service for the monies paid. He also accused the LPRC management of assuming tax obligation on behalf of Motherwell and that the corporation was also keeping secret the deal from the board until recently, “that the Management of LPRC would enter into a contract of this nature without approval of the Board or subsequent notice to the Board for more than one year speaks to the overall management environment at the corporation and the way it is sustained.” He said. But these are not the claims that are being responded to by the LPRC management, according to reports. The company is arguing that Warner wrote the president and told the Board that he was leaving the company because he was on eight other boards and was busy with his law practice."...And these are not the substantive issue at bar," says Mustapha Jalloh.
Warner is also reproving the manner in which the Japanese donated oil was sold and handled. He claims the sale of the petroleum products that that the Liberian government entered into with the Japanese government should have generated about US$18M dollars if the product was sold on the market for about 4.00, with total initial value of the oil being US$13,083,350.00 . The Japanese, donated petroleum products according Warner were worth about “15,000 metric ton of mixed oil products, which was delivered to the LPRC for monetization on behalf of the Government.”
LPRC in its press notes have confirmed that US$8.5m was deposited in the escrow account at the Central Bank of Liberia, by Aminata oil, and the rest of the money went to administrative costs and Aminata profits. Several persons who have commented on the issue said, the management of the LPRC was not addressing these issues Warner raised head on. The rebuttals are saying the company is profitable, and that it has given its employees bonus. “On December 20, 2011, the Board of Directors approved a year-end bonus of 75% of one (1) month salary to the Management, Staff and Employees of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) in appreciation of their collective contributions to the continuous improvement in the profitability posture of LPRC. As a consequence of the above, net profit for 2011 was US$6.92 Million Dollars as compared to US$5.2 Million Dollars in 2010 and cash reserve now stands at US$11.5 Million Dollars as of January 30, 2012”. The Board of Directors said in their reaction to Warner’s statement. It also said it was studying Warner’s allegations and would address them soon.
The General Auditing Commission is said to be looking into the current allegations made by Mr. Warner. These allegations pundits say comes at an important time in President Sirleaf's second term, having promise to take a vigorous posture against impropriety and corruption in the Liberian government if she won re-election. Those who know Warner says he harbors political ambitions, having served as student leader of the Student Integration Movement (SIM) at the University of Liberia during the 1990s. How this case develops and ends analysts say could also determined his political future, in an era when ‘generational change’ is a loaded slogan in the palace of Liberian politics.
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