-Says he’s unfit to lead, calls for a comprehensive forensic audit of National Legislature
The Concerned Citizens United to Bring Our Money Back (COCUBOMB) has strongly condemned the latest statement from Speaker Bhofal Chambers, suggesting non-compliance with foreign investigators, including FBI, who are in Liberia to forensically probe this missing nearly L$16 billion mystery.
COCUBOMB is a coalition of over 26 civil society organizations, which was established in September shortly after revelations initially confirmed by the CDC government that billions of Liberian dollars brought into the country went missing in thin air.
In his press statement issued over the weekend, the group said Speaker Chambers statement “was overloaded with subterfuge and blatant blame-shifting on ex-President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Chambers said that Lawmakers would never be subjected to any form of probe by foreign investigators.
COCUBOMB considers such statement as an unwarranted display of arrogance, crudity and scare tactic only intended to prejudice the ongoing forensic investigation.
This is what happens when a poverty-stricken nation like Liberia has a Puppeteering Speaker whose utmost interest is embellished in massive greed and racketeering. Such emotional outburst is the most appropriate reaction from a rather ‘guilty speaker’ than an ‘innocent speaker’.
The group says it has reliably learned that this Speaker purchased a US$155,000 compound on GSA Road in Paynesville in May 2018.
According to COCUBOMB, half of this amount was paid in LD while the other half was paid in USD according to our well-placed source.
This is the same Speaker who has been accused of committing crime in the USA and clandestinely changing his name from Jallah Lahinin to Bhofal Chambers in order to fraudulently obtain a PhD degree in Criminal Justice.
This is the same Speaker who was linked to conflict of interest and corruption by an audit report of IAA indicting him of having a 7.5 percent share in Liberia-China Investment Group, a Chinese Company that siphoned millions of dollars intended to construct Bong Technical College. Isn’t this the same Speaker who called for retributive justice yesterday, but in his opinion it is not necessary today?
This is the same Speaker who unscrupulously ratified two loan agreements (ETON and EBOMAF) costing almost a billion dollar without instituting due diligence. Such a Speaker is only good enough to be described as the most inconsistent, incompetent, corrupt, and rubber-stamped since 1847. This is why COCUBOMB is demanding the immediate removal of Speaker Chambers because he is unfit to lead.
Speaker Chambers needs to understand that the utmost desire of the Liberian people is for this spree of mass looting (missing L$16 billion) to be fully and independently investigated by foreign investigators, and not a compromised panel of diehard partisans. The people of Liberia through COCUBOMB will only accept report from international forensic investigators, and not any form of investigative panel set-up by this government.
The people have already lost trust and confidence in the government to investigate this national mystery because the government including the National Legislature is a party to this case. COCUBOMB challenges Speaker Chambers to show us any provision of the Constitution or any Law that prohibits or exempts Lawmakers from being investigated especially when they are linked to economic sabotage/corruption.
No wonder why the Criminal Justice Credential of this Speaker remains very questionable. A Speaker who does not frankly disagree with the President, even when our Constitution and almost all of our laws are being violated, is a rubber-stamped Speaker who can easily be used as an insatiable conduit of shady deals and racketeering.
COCUBOMB believes that if Speaker Chambers has nothing to offer as a solution to Liberia’s socio-economic nightmare and increasing hardship as a result of rampant GREED and CORRUPTION, he should be inviting Minister Samuel Tweah to provide detailed explanation about how US$25 million was “infused” in the Liberian economy. Furthermore, Speaker Chambers is not the investigator and/or the judge to name anyone as a ‘Person of Interest’. He must give foreign investigators the chance to independently probe this matter.
COCUBOMB admonishes our foreign investigators including the FBI to give no credence to vain outbursts and guilt-ridden loudness. Such a lousy alarm from this Speaker is on purpose. We encourage you (foreign investigators) to fearlessly proceed with your investigation as Liberians remain eagerly hopeful of a credible outcome. We call for a comprehensive audit of the National Legislature from 2006 up to present. Lawmakers too must be held accountable and responsible for public resources.
“Those who viciously stole our money (L$16 billion) must account and account now. BRING BACK OUR MONEY remains the most popular call of the Liberian people from Montserrado to Maryland. The POWER of the PEOPLE is greater than those in power. Speaker Chambers and his likes must understand this uncontested reality and immediately refrain from any further upsurge of arrogance and racketeering,” the COCUBOMB press statement concluded.