By Alloycious David
Liberia businessman Sam D. Monbo has accused the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) of being indebted to him in the tone of US$3,000, but the institution has debunked his accusation as untrue.
Monbo, owner of Everybuilder and Chairman of Welcome Liberia Network, alleged in a statement that LRA has withheld a US$3,000 annual payment fees that was due since September 2016.
Everybuilder builds and hosts websites. Monbo claims that the company has hosting and services’ contract with LRA. The contract was reportedly won August 2013 through the World Bank Integrated Public Financial Management Reform project (IPFMRP).
But, in reaction, Mr. Rogers said the LRA does not have any valid contract with Mr. Monbo’s Everybuilder and as such was not indebted to the institution.
Monbo alleged that he is having immense problems in the collection of his company’s account receivable from LRA since it was launched in 2015, contrary to 2013-2014 when he was being paid through IPFRMP.
According to him, his company was given a ‘mysterious check’, which originated from the office of LRA’s Deputy Commissioner for Administrative Affairs Oliver N. Rogers, II.
He disclosed that Deputy Commissioner, Oliver Rogers issued a Liberian dollar check in the amount of $ 70, 400 to his company without a tax receipt when he should be paid in US dollars.
“Additionally, after receiving the strange Liberian dollar check, we were informed that $200 United States dollars was withdrawn from the Liberian dollar check, instead of the LRD equivalence of the $200 USD,” Monbo said.
Monbo is concerned about why United States dollars was withdrawn from a Liberian dollars check and why Rogers issued a Liberian dollar check when he is aware that his company was receiving payments in United States dollars.
He further disclosed that three months after the transaction, LRA refunded the US$ 200, but without any investigation, as he demanded.
Monbo also alleged that since then, Mr. Rogers has designed a scheme to strangulate his business in retaliation.
But LTA’s Deputy Commissioner, Oliver Rogers on Thursday, February 1, 2018 provided copies of an email sent to Mr. Monbo on April 28, 2017 terminating the hosting services contract with Everybuilder.
The termination segment of the contract between the LRA and Everybuilder states that each party shall have the right to terminate the memorandum of understanding upon submission of a 30 days prior written notice.
Speaking further on allegations that he issued a “mysterious” check, Mr. Rogers explained that LRA has pays vendors in either US dollar or in Liberian dollar equivalence, based on the currency of the available allocated budget, noting, “this is why it is always enshrined in our contracts and agreements with contractors.”
In the instance case, he disclosed that the LRA paid Mr. Monbo’s company L$88, 000 (for US$1000) taking into consideration that the prevailing rate at the time was US$ 1 to L$88 in October 2015.
Rogers said Mr. Monbo’s mother, Mrs. Ophelia Bropleh Monbo, received the check and never objected to why it was issued in Liberian dollar.
Regarding the refund made to Everybuilder, Roger said the LRA was constrained to do that because Mr. Monbo had shut down the institution’s website making it difficult for staff to send and receive emails.
He explained that the LRA terminated the contract because Monbo proved to be an ‘unreliable’ businessman, who with the intent to exploit LRA, increased its annual subscription fees from US$1000 to US$ 3,000 outside of previous arrangement with the institution.
Rogers further explained that with the involvement of Liberia’s Post and Telecommunication Ministry, and a partner oversee only identified as Bush, LRA retrieved its lra.gov.lr domain from Mr. Monbo who had protested that he couldn’t allow the LRA own It, because it was his personal property.