A Letter From The Editor: In the Quest for Truths, FPA Encounters Threats, Attacks - 2/4/2006 12:36:21 PM
    Dear Readers: 
   
  In late September 2005, in the days leading up to the launching of FrontPageAfrica, our staff came in possession of an audit of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs conducted by the British firm Moore Stephens and authorized by the European Union.  Moore Stephens is rated among the top 10 auditing firms in the world. 
   
  The audit uncovered among other things the lack of commitment, personal greed for wealth and favoritism. All of these things, the auditors noted, seriously impinged the smooth operations of the bureau. The maritime operation is now the second largest registry in the world behind Panama. 
   
  The audit also pointed to flaws and corruption with some big names including the chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, Gyude Bryant. The flaws and corruption allegations involved excessive expenditures not related to maritime time programs. The unwarranted expenses, according to the audit have undermined the efficiency and future productivity of the program in Liberia. 
   
  The audit report maintained that the maritime bureau along with the Liberia government has compromised its position to such extend that it now has little or no bargaining power with the Agent because of numerous requests for funds and special favors from the Agent. The auditors asserted that until such a situation is remedied in a new agency agreement, the relative positions of LISCR and the government would result in the Agent having the upper hand. The Agent is LISCR and its CEO is Yoram Cohen, who is also an owner. 
   
  "The agreement became effective on 31 December 1999," the audit disclosed. "From our discussions with LISCR, it appears that the Agreement was drafted rather hurriedly in order to ensure that LISCR took over the operation of the registries from the beginning of 2000."
   
  Audit: ‘Agreement was a bad deal for Liberia’
   
  The audit report also cited several conflicts of interest with respect to the Agent. They included the allegations that the Agent has not established a clear delineation between CELLCOM activities, Seal Digital and other business activities from the Maritime operations, suggesting a commingling of funds that could be used for activities other than those that would advance the operations of the bureau. 
   
  “The Agreement was a bad deal for Liberia. Moore Stephens emphasized; "It is probably fair to say that the Agreement should have been substantially re-drafted and some structural changes proposed. Unfortunately, this was not done and the result is an agreement which is perhaps unworkable in practice and creates numerous conflicts of interests."
   
  It is also unclear who the beneficial owners of LISCR are. The law prohibits legitimate Liberian interests in LISCR. The auditor stated that in section 1.5 of the agreement, "LISCR represents that all of its existing legal shareholders and beneficial owners are United States nationals.” 
   
  Section VIII of the Agreement places restrictions on certain transfers of shares in LISCR. We understand that there has been some movement in shareholdings within the initial five-year period of the Agreement but no notice has been given. We have not been provided with the list of the original shareholders, but annex 9 shows the list of the current shareholders of LISCR LLC." 
   
  So who were the original shareholders? A United Nations report showed that between 2003 and 2004, LISCR made four transfers of US$500,000 to Charles Taylor. LISCR has appeared at least once before the U.S. House to discuss maritime issues. FrontPageAfrica has learned that the United States’ Department of Justice is near completion of a two-year probe of LISCR and an indictment is coming soon.
   
  Swidler & Berlin’s (S&B), the Washington, D.C., law firm that represented Liberia in its dispute with the original agent, ITC, is alleged to have participated in creating LISCR, another potential conflict of interest as cited in the audit report. S&B advise ROL to take legal actions against ITC for several alleged malpractices, including conflict of interest. ITC was alleged to have established the competitive Marshall Island Program, using BMA resources. 
   
  FrontPageAfrica believes that it is the legitimate interest of the Liberian people to know what is happening with their state financial resources. This is why we have gone the extra length to secure and publish the audit reports of all state owned enterprises including the Maritime, LPRC, FDA, RIA, NPA and the Central Bank of Liberia. By and large, the public is satisfied that there are new emerging institutions willing to bring them information relating to their government. 
   
  It came as no surprise that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf decided to make all these reports available to the Governance Reform Commission and then to the public. These reports were out in May 2005 but FrontPageAfrica did not get hold of all them until January 2006. 
   
  FrontPageAfrica, and the Liberian public, [we believe], appreciate the efforts of President Sirleaf in releasing these reports. But it would be even better if the reports from the ECOWAS investigation of other independent institutions and the Auditor General Office’s audit of travel vouchers were also made public. 
   
  It is suffice to say that several newspapers in Liberia are now carrying similar information from the audit reports, including the New Democrat. 
   
  Conversation and Threats From LISCR’s Boss Cohen
   
  Almost three months ago when I first laid hands on the audit report of the Bureau of Maritime, I called several people at the Vienna office, including Yoram Cohen, George Arku and Tarty Teh for comments. I called Cohen to get his take on the allegations made against LISCR by the audit report. When I called his office in Vienna, his secretary, Virginia, informed me that he was not available. I told her to please let him know that FrontPageAfrica had a copy of the EU's audit of the BMA and there were some issues on LISCR that I needed him to address. 
   
  Cohen called me a few minutes later. We had a discussion about some of the findings in the audit, most of the information gathered was off the record, but some of them were not. We published those that were on the record. 
   
  Following our discussion, I received a call from Cohen the following day, asking me if I could come to his office in Vienna. He asked me to keep my visit a “secret” and instructed me to not let anyone know I was going to see him. But after careful consideration and discussions with some members of the FPA staff, I was advised that it would be risky to go ahead with a "secret" visit. 
   
  The consensus was that we did not want [in any way] to compromise the integrity of FPA from even a remote appearance of impropriety. There are too many instances where journalists have been accused of taking bribes. We believe we should err on the side of caution. This was buttressed by the fact that I had also received a response and an explanation, mostly denials, from Cohen on LISCR’s roles as mentioned in the audit. Thus, I felt a trip to Vienna would not achieve anything more.
   
  Over the last two weeks, nominees to various positions were being appointed. FPA team felt it would be necessary to present to the Liberian people information we could gather on nominees to key positions. We have done quite a bit of that! 
   
  But in the process we discovered that Willis Knuckles, a nominee for the position of Public Works, was a member of the board of directors of Cellcom, which is owned by Cohen and which the EU auditors claimed some level of conflict of interest with the Bureau of Maritime Affairs. 
   
  Reliable public servants informed FPA of Knuckles business ties also to NPA Chairman Musa Bility and NPA Managing Director Togba Naganah. NPA is one of the audited agencies and a potential cash cow for Liberia. Knuckles is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the US$6 million a year Liberia National Oil Company, a public corporation, and a reliable source informed FPA that he has promised the position of president of that new company to three people including its current president Musa Dean. 
   
  Another source informed FPA that Knuckles tried to influence the appointments at LPRC and Maritime, and is now bent on having someone of his liking to RIA. These are all public corporations. 
   
  FPA took great care to collaborate the information before penning an analysis on the next potential financial mover and shaker in Liberia. Knuckles also has several business interests in Liberia including shipping and car rental and sits on more than one Board, unlike any of the minister designates. His alleged close relationship with the president also made him an interesting man to watch in Liberian politics. 
   
  So in an analysis entitled “Knuckles, The next Emmanuel Shaw?” we attempted to point out some of the issues regarding conflict of interest from a man whose close ties to the president and LISCR could influence, if not decide the fate and future of LISCR in a fashion similar to a man of a different era in Shaw, who used his ties to Doe and Taylor to amass wealth and power and a grip on numerous businesses in Liberia and elsewhere.
   
  FPA reported that Knuckles is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CELLCOM, a company owned by his friend and confidante, the Maritime Agent Cohen. Cohen’s LISCR is the firm that has the contract for managing the Liberian maritime program, a contract the EU auditors have classified as unfair and not in the interest of Liberia. Knuckles was alleged to have insisted on having someone at the helm of maritime who will pledge to keep the contract with LISCR, which is against the recommendation of the EU audit. 
   
  The analysis apparently stirred some waters within certain circles in Monrovia that someone made desperate efforts to have it and other stories of the Cabinet dilemma suspiciously removed from AllAfrica.com, which had posted them last Thursday. AllAfrica.com followed through and pulled down all the reports from FPA. Ironically, all this happened on the day of Knuckles appearance before the Senate Confirmation hearings.
   
  At approximately 3: 50 pm on Friday, February 4, I received a call from Cohen who opened his discussion by accusing me of having a motivation and a vendetta against him and LISCR. “I know where you live, I know where you live, I know where you live and I will find you” said Cohen, who then threatened to file a lawsuit against FrontPageAfrica for reporting stories about LISCR based on the EU audit. LISCR’S dealings have been well documented in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and virtually every major news outlet in the world.
   
  According to Cohen, he had documented everything against FPA, including my failure to meet with him last year at his office in Vienna. 
   
  Cohen also accused FPA of taking down the story, which is not true. It is allafrica.com that took down the story, not FPA. All the stories are still up on the FPA site. We have no reason and we are under no obligation to take down a story that is correct. Let Cohen blame the EU auditors, not the reporters and editor. FPA did not conduct the audit. Nor did FPA put Knuckles on Cohen’s CELLCOM. The truth of the matter is Knuckles is using his ties to the president to put his henchmen in key positions in the government. We have unimpeacheable sources to confirm. In the case of NPA, Knuckles personally saw to it that Togba Ngannah was placed at NPA and Musa Bility on the Board of Directors. Our sources say Ngannah was sent from America by Knuckles and currently resides in Knuckles house in Monrovia. Bility's appointment on the board was a personal work of Knuckles. Let Cohen and Knuckles come out in public and deny this, instead of making threats and using their power to muzzle the
 media and mute the truth. We are NOT on a witchhunt here. But if we don't scrutinize who the president is putting in these positions Liberia will continue to remain a haven of corruption and neglect. 
   
   
  FrontPageAfrica’s Position
   
  We at FrontPageAfrica are taking Cohen’s threat very serious and are in the process of contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists to notify them of the threat against me. Since last Friday, following Cohen’s call, I have not stayed at my place of residence for fear of my life. 
   
  Cohen’s implications that he knows where I live may be interpreted in a variety of ways. To be honest, this was one of the primary reasons why I turned down a request to meet with Cohen last year. 
   
  We chose to go public today to send a clear message to Cohen and all others who believe that their threats will hamper our work that they are wasting their time. He has the right to sue in a competent court of jurisdiction. 
   
  We are a registered corporation in the United States. We can be sued and can sue. We believe in the rule of law. We will take great care to ensure that our reports and analysis are correct and accurate and make apologies when we err. We are not beyond reproach! 
   
  Many Liberians and Africans have used the letter to the editor as a means to register their appreciations or disapproval of our coverage. And we have done our utmost to publish every single opinion whether it is in favor or against FPA. This is because we value your input and position. So many others have called to provide updated information on stories and analysis. We appreciate them all! 
   
  But what we will not tolerate is the same more past attitude of people attempting to intimidate, harass and threaten journalists and Liberians when news stories do not conform to their liking. We have read stories where journalists are flogged in Liberia. Our counterparts on the ground in Liberia and in Africa proper are doing a great job under harsh economic and political circumstances. We will continue to complement their efforts abroad. And we believe strongly that gone are those days when journalists were harassed and intimidated in Liberia. 
   
  Liberians and Africans have awakened to a dawn of a new era in which everyone will be held accountable and responsible for actions taken that affect the public interest. It is our collective responsibility to bring forth to you, the readers, and the audit reports of your government. It is your right to know. No amount of threat and intimidation will stop that. We have spent countless hours and a large sum of money from our pockets just to ensure that the public interests are served. We will remain committed to that singular goal.  
   
  This is the norm in the developed world where skeletons are dug up on key people seeking jobs or those in positions of power. The case of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is clear example. Cheney’s much-publicized vow to use the courts to prevent the release of documents relating to the formulation of government energy policy was debated and discussed in the most democratic country in the world, Liberia’s step father, who it has strived to emulate since independence to no avail.  
   
  In Cheney’s case, the papers were being demanded by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress, as part of an investigation into the political influence of collapsed energy firm Enron. Cheney said that the GAO was overstepping its authority, and that he had a right to keep policy documents confidential. 
   
  Enron, which went bankrupt in early December, was accused of having used its close links with senior politicians as a means to influence policy in its favour. Liberia is not America, but it can emulate the democratic principles that exist there and strive to make life better for its people.
   
  So to the millions of readers who visit our news site daily, we thank you for sticking with us and wish to inform you that the events of the past weeks and months will not in any way affect our presentation of news to you. We will continue to unearth documents, stories and reports we deemed necessary. You can be rest assured that we are not for SALE, nor are we in anyone's pocket.
   
  Without your support and input we would not have achieved the 2.9 million hits per month.  Thanks again - a million!



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