By Karba Williams
Asset Recovery and Confiscation Reign to deliver expert remedies towards proceeds of crimes in the fight against corruption, an official of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) has said.
Attorney Mohammed Fahnbulleh, Executive Director of LACC, said despite government’s position on curbing corruption in Liberia, its effort is being challenged by inadequate laws.
Attorney Fahnbulleh, who served as a proxy for the Officer-In-charge of the LACC, Charles J.L. Gibson, explained that in some instances, the laws are conflicting, citing 2013, when government printed into handbill the Act to amend the Civil Procedure Law to provide provisional remedies for proceeds of crime.
Addressing journalists at a news conference in Monrovia, he said the Act is so inadequate to address holistic approach to deal with numerous processes such as tracing, freezing, confiscation and forfeiture of corruption proceeds in Liberia, adding “we need an asset recovery and confiscation reign which is lacking.”
Quoting UNODC and World Bank reports, he said that the monies stolen from developing countries and hidden in foreign countries each year is ‘approximately’ 20-40 billion United States dollars, a figure that is equivalent to 20-40 percent funds of development assistance.
Meanwhile, Atty. Fahnbulleh has also asserted that Liberia’s anti-graft agency will on Thursday, July 11, 2019 join governments around the world to celebrate African Anti-Corruption Day.
The celebration is in keeping with Article eight of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which calls for preventive measures and criminalization in addition to African Union Convention (AUC) on preventing and combating corruption.
The AUC was adopted in Maputu, Mozambique on July 11, 2003 and came into force in 2006.
He noted that this year will mark the third edition of the African Anti-Corruption Day under the theme: “Towards a Common African Position on Asset Recovery”, saying it is the first celebration in Liberia.
Statistics on the number of cases handled by the LACC since it was established by an Act of the Liberian Legislature in 2008:
SOURCE: http://lacc.gov.lr/
“Number of cases recommended by the LACC for prosecution: 29; Number of completed trials: 6; Number of ongoing trials: 3; Number of joint prosecutions with the MOJ and LACC: 2 completed, 2 ongoing; Number of prosecutions conducted by the LACC alone: 4 completed, 1 ongoing; Number of convictions: 6 (4 of these were LACC cases); Number of appeals to the Supreme Court: 5”
In observance of the African-Anti -Corruption day, he said the LACC has designed appropriate programs including the setting up of the basis for the creation of national framework to address asset recovery in Liberia and the passage of an Asset Recovery Bill.
The LACC is observing of the day is in recognition of the progress made and cognizant of the need to continually reflect on approaches to end corruption for which the AU designed July 11 as Anti-Corruption Day.
The day will serve as a basis for all anti-corruption stakeholders to reflect on challenges of asset recovery in Africa and solicit contribution and support in the development of a common African position on Asset recovery.