CENTAL Welcomes Asset Recovery Taskforce's Latest Indictment of Ex-GoL Officials – But Calls for Greater Efforts to Achieve Positive Outcomes  

Monrovia, Thursday, April 16, 2026

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for always attending to our calls. This manifests a commitment to our strategic partnership for good governance and the culture of transparency and accountability in Liberia.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, on March 4, 2026, through executive order # 161, President Joseph Nuyma Boakai renewed, for the second time, the mandate of the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce (AREPT), established in March 2024 to identify, investigate, and retrieve public assets, financial and other resources illegally possessed by individuals in society, including former and current government officials and their collaborators. During its early days, the Taskforce faced legal and other challenges that somehow undermined its overall effectiveness and efficiency, but has since overcome these challenges and is reasonably expected to satisfactorily deliver for the Liberian people, whose tax dollars fund its operation.

In fulfillment of its mandate, last week, the Chairman of the body, Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin, unveiled a slew of indictments for Madam Mawine Diggs, former Minister of Commerce and Industry (MOCI), and several other officials of the immediate past Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government, over allegation of diversion of about US$1.8 millions of funds meant for a rural women empowerment program.

Media reports quoted Cllr. Martin as saying that the charges against the former officials are grounded on credible evidence and due process accorded the accused former Minister Diggs and her alleged accomplices, including Atty. Joseph Y. Howe, former Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Commerce; Kebeh Monger, President, National Rural Women Structure of Liberia; Elizabeth Finda Sambulah, President, Liberia Marketing Association; Josephine Handful Greens, former Secretary General, National Rural Women Structure of Liberia; and Kemmoh Borbor, Cashier, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The latest move by the Taskforce follows a November 2025 indictment of Madam Nora Finda Bundor, former Chief of Protocol at the Executive Mansion along with 40 others over an alleged corruption scheme involving more than US$6.7 million. It also follows a June 2025 indictment of former Foreign Minister D. Maxwell Saah Kemanya and 15 others over the handling of donated rice from the government of Saudi Arabia. This takes the number of former officials indicted for corruption by the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force to over 50. 

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, CENTAL reckons that these steps taken by the taskforce to hold former officials accountable for their stewardship is laudable and must be backed by the requisite financial, logistical and moral support from all and sundry. We are happy the entity has received considerable financial support from government, more than some anti-graft institutions that predate its existence, such as the Liberia Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) that received $625,383 United States Dollars at the end of the 2024 budget year, while the Task Force received $670,920 United States Dollars during the same period.

However, CENTAL is deeply concerned about the slow pace of tangible results and impacts of the work of the body, including adjudication of these matters and retrieval of public resources and other assets. We wish to state that the buck does not stop with an individual or group of individuals being investigated and indicted. The fight against corruption becomes more meaningful when outcomes are accrued beyond indictments. When people are accused of corruption and indicted by the court, the state must ensure that the trial is speedy and that justice is dispensed through a verdict—be it guilty or not guilty. This is one way to ensure that the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce (ARPRT) lives up to its true mandate of recovering in-country and oversea-based stolen government assets, including funds and real and personal properties. Liberians have grown tired and disappointed in seeing individuals coming to state power and acquiring enormous ill-gotten financial and non-financial assets and resources, sometimes more than several state institutions combined. This is unacceptable and defeats the true purpose of leadership and democratic governance, where public interest should always be a top priority.

Recommendations:

• The Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force must do more to show tangible results and impacts, beyond indictments. This includes working with the requisite state agencies and foreign governments and partners to identify and repatriate foreign-based ill-gotten public assets owned by Liberians and their collaborators.
• The Government of Liberia must show greater commitment in establishing the Specialized Anti-corruption Court to help timely adjudicate corruption cases and hold corrupt persons accountable. This will help to timely adjudicate corruption and other related cases, including those being pursued by the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force.
• We also call for the removal of the five-year statute of limitation affecting the prosecution of corruption cases, to address the slow pace of the recovery of stolen financial and non-financial assets in Liberia. 
• The judiciary must act to prioritize the adjudication of corruption cases, to aid in the process of protecting public resources and holding corruption individuals, groups and institutions fully accountable, to the fullest extent possible, as a strong deterrent mechanism.

• Finally, we call on the Liberian government to adequate finance public integrity institutions, including LACC, GAC, PPCC, The Asset Recovery Task Force and others playing important roles in safeguarding public resources and assets. There can be no successful fight against corruption and other abuses if institutions leading the process are not adequately supported and enjoy full financial, moral and other support from state and non-state actors as well as members of the public.

Thank you.

Signed:

Anderson Miamen,

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