MONROVIA – Liberian business mogul, Amin Modad, became the first official of the Joseph Nyuma Boakai-led government to resign from his much-coveted portfolio as Minister of Commerce and Industry amid a whirlwind of public condemnations over the purchase of a luxury vehicle which accordingly exceeded the legal threshold for official vehicle purchases. Since he tendered his resignation last October, Mr. Modad has been immersed in his lucrative hospitality and other business ventures, conspicuously avoiding the limelight that many politicos and business tycoons would die to hug. But last Thursday, May 29, 2029 Mr. Modad finally broke the ice when he made a live radio appearance to outline the main reasons that led to his resignation on October 10, 2024. In a no hold-barred interview, the former MoCI Minister also exposed what he termed as the duplicitous nature of some Liberian politicians, unscrupulous businessmen and self-styled advocates who use the gullibility of the larger society to peddle lies for selfish gains. The Analyst Reports.
The basis for resigning
According to former Commerce Minister Amin Modad, in sharp contrast to the barrage of false perception which certain people had peddled to the public, the issue of his resignation had nothing to do with the President of Liberia asking him to step down.
“The whole scenario started on a false premise. The president did not ask me resign. There was no negative reaction between the president and me. When Stanton Witherspoon was putting it out there that the president was going to sack me, it was a lie. The president and I did speak. He gave me the encouragement that he understood the lot of pressure I was enduring. He was out of the country, but promised that upon his return we were going to sit down and talk about it.
“Again, the president did not ask me to resign. Even some colleagues said I preempted it, I should not have resigned. But I had made some commitments publicly. I also made commitment to the president. I made commitment to the Liberian people to be able to function. And at that point, it was turning point for me because a lot had happened during the eight months I was minister. I was called to the Legislature almost three times a week, sometimes for every salient and serious issue, but sometimes I felt that I was being harassed. And it was distracting me from my core responsibilities. During the period, for a month when this malicious lie came up, for almost a month I could not even function. So at that point in time, I don’t think it was justifiable of me to keep putting my government or the president in a position of distracting them and being a burden. I don’t own the Ministry of Commerce. I don’t own the position as minister. And at that point, I felt that it was time to conduct an investigation for anyone who needed clarity. I know for sure that my colleagues understood; I knew the President understood, but it was a personal decision.”
Modad continued: “My decision to resign was based on three main reasons. At that particular time, from the time I took office, I experienced a lot of mixed public sentiments. If you can remember, people called me a foreigner; there was lot of mixed signals. There was lot of questions of me assuming responsibility as the Minister of Commerce, considering my Lebanese heritage. So, it was a period convoluted with a lot of mixed reaction that was very distracting not only to me as a minister, but also for a new government that was coming in.”
He said the distractions reached a crescendo when the weight of the negative comments became so unbearable, especially with the outpouring of negative sentiments from people he never expected to be so vindictive, so unprofessional, that they chose not to base their assessments and judgments on facts, but to delve into his personal businesses, his personal life by concocting lies.
“The second thing was, at that time, it was a scenario where my wife’s vehicle was attacked while she was bringing my kids from school. Her personal vehicle that she bought before this whole scenario was attacked. I don’t know if it was orchestrated, but people in the street assumed that it’s the car that Minister Modad stole. I don’t think it was fair. Even though I tried to reach out to Stanton Witherspoon and some of those guys that were spewing that nonsense, it had no impact. So, my family safety was of concern.
“And this rolled into a lot of other issues. It was not only about vehicles. They got into my personal business. Nathaniel McGill went out and said I bought a yacht similar to a yacht owned by President Tubman. How outrageous can this be? They got into this narrative, again on Spoon TV that I was renovating my hotel only when I became minister, which is a BS. I’ve always been renovating my hotel. I’ve always been upgrading my hotel. I have survived over the years, over an adverse administration, bad economy, by trying to upgrade my businesses. And let me say this publicly. In 2023, I applied to IB Bank. The records are there. I didn’t go public because it wasn’t necessary. We all defaulted on our loans during the bad period. I was targeted. I had to liquidate a lot of my assets in order to survive during the six years of President Weah.
“In 2023 I applied to several banking institutions to consolidate my bad debts. IB was one of those that were processing that. Fortunately for me, before I even took over in 2023, they approved a loan of US$1.4 million that consolidated all my debts. And in that process of consolidating my debts that came up to about US$1.2 or US$1.3 million, there were an excess that helped to jump-start the renovation. I can’t force IB to lie for me. If a proper investigation was done, or Stanton Witherspoon or whosoever that had issues, I mean real, sincere inquiries, call me up to provide facts. And based on proper investigation, you would have seen that there were loans that were able to push this. Thank God I have been very fortunate. My businesses have been good. I have liquidated my assets, they are public. Every property I have acquired was declared during my asset declaration. I acquired no other property during my period as Minister of Commerce. In fact, just when I sent my letter of resignation, and again, I did not make this public and to the president, I wrote the LACC and the GAC, informing them of my resignation and inviting them to audit me. I had nothing to hide. These were all lies.
“Lastly, if you remember, at my hearing at the legislature, I was asked a very salient question, and it was even sensationalized at the time in the press, and it was: ‘if you are not getting results, if you are not making impact, will you resign?’ And publicly, I made that commitment that at any point in time that I was not having the impact, that I was not performing, and I felt that there was any jeopardy to my responsibility, I would resign.
“In conjunction with that, being a minister appointed to any position is a privilege, not a right. At that point in time when there were public sentiments, without going through the opportunity to defend myself. If there was a hearing, that would have been fine. But before there was any opportunity to hear my side of the story, the public had already judged, listened to the vicious lies and was at the point of prosecuting me. I am not above the Liberian people. I am not above the law, And at that point in time the best option was to give the president the time, and the people the opportunity to hear the truth, if it meant me stepping aside, I had no problem doing it,” Mr. Modad said.
So, What Really Happened
Former Finance Minister Modad, in a pensive mood, said the incident leading to his resignation was based on lies and a false premise.
“This is what really happened. The whole thing started with premises of false alarm. The first lie was I was gifted US$150,000. That’s the first lie. Two, that I was gifted a car similar to President Biden’s car, which is false. When I assumed the mantle of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, I met US$4,800 in the ministry’s account. The cost of getting the ministry set up to become functional, to bring back credibility to the edifice; I was the first minister who painted the entire ministry. I did that out of my pocket. When I went there, the elevator wasn’t working; there was no electricity; there was one 600kva generator that was supplying several ministries, but the ministries did not have the capacity to fuel it. I arranged generator for that ministry. So, it was compelling to see the lies that were coming out.
“We appealed to several institutions for support. In fact, it was during one of my audits that it was reported that we received several vehicles from MEDTEC and BIVAC. We did not see those vehicles on the ground. So, in our audit we reached out to the LRA to find out if indeed they did provide vehicles for the Ministry of Commerce. And that’s how they clarified that they did provide certain vehicles for the Ministry of Commerce, not the quantity that was reported to us. But they also told us the basis for which they provided that support to the Ministry of Commerce and several other agencies. During that time, they were even giving computers to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They provided support to the legislature. It was during that period that the Ministry of Commerce, not Amin Modad, even though I was Minister, requested support from LRA to boost our revenue generation.
“We did a complete assessment while we were doing our strategic plan for the first 100 days, one year and five years plan. And we identified lot of revenue losses that came from our lack of effectiveness from the hinterland. Mind you, for the eight months I served as Minister of Commerce, I used my personal vehicle, an X-Class Mercedes far more expensive than the vehicle. I fueled it, I paid my driver, not receiving a single scratch card, not receiving a single gas slip. I refused all of those things because of the state I saw the Ministry of Commerce.
“So, it was an honest request to another agency of government. Not only the LRA we requested something from, several other government agencies and development partners. LRA responded out of the three vehicles that we requested for, that they would provide support for two of them – one for up to US$100,000, and one for US$33,000.There are communications between LRA and myself. But during that time it was not my responsibility and it was not professional of me to go out and debate the issues when I knew I had the support from the president and from my colleagues, and I knew there was no malfeasance and there was no corruption. It was about the confidence that we had, given the opportunity to defend ourselves. It was in that process that we received quotations from several car dealership suppliers.
“They claimed it was a car similar to that of President Biden which was outrageous. This was not a luxurious car. We selected the particular vehicle based on the specifications. We needed to go out of town. If I had the responsibility of developing the economy through trade, commerce and industry, Monrovia was not where my work was. And I felt my deputies, myself and the entire ministry must reach out to every border, every county, to harness and develop the opportunities there for Liberia. That’s what we did.
“I used the vehicle for only four times. First time was to go the Liberian border, stopping at every Ministry of Commerce office on the way. We discovered during that first assessment, more than US$900,000 was raised just from business registration. That’s the purpose of the visit. We stopped and visited several Liberian businesses along the corridor in manufacturing, agriculture, and different services to see how we can support them. We took the second trip to the Bo Waterside and we saw a lot of leakages, a lot of gaps in our services. That was the purpose of our visit.
“Even during my tenure, there were several occasions that my personal vehicle was used by the government of Liberia for government functions free of charge. When the president of Ghana came to Liberia, it was my Mercedes that was used free of charge. I am saying that to really layout that I did not need to purchase a vehicle for myself. Purchase of vehicle was functional – it was an off-road vehicle for the function of the Ministry of Commerce. When I left, where is the vehicle? It is still with the government. So, the first lie is that it was a gift to me.
“Secondly, there was no transaction between me, the Ministry of Commerce and the vendor of that vehicle. We made a request to LRA. LRA asked for invoices and quotations. We got quotations from several dealerships looking at the functionalities. We wanted an off-road vehicle, 4-wheel drive, possibly to take 6-7 persons. And it was the cheapest we could get. The same vehicle from another vendor was for US$125,000. To the gullible public, yes. It’s a large amount. I understand. But for the function of what we wanted to do, this is the environment we found ourselves at that time. And that’s how we sent those quotations, selected the cheapest one, and LRA interacted directly with the vendor, not through the Ministry of Commerce. No money came to the Ministry of Commerce, not to Amin Modad. The paper trail is there. It was submitted to the President from March when we started the interaction.
“Thirdly, the budgetary law or the premise that set the cap for the US$45,000 was not in place till June. We started the purchase of the vehicle in March. So that ceiling, that people say we broke the ceiling, it was not intentional because the budgetary ceiling was not established. Even when it was established, there is a paper trail. We reached out to the vendor to see if he can cancel the order and provide more vehicles, but it was impossible. It was clear that we were going to lose close to US$20,000 because they don’t have stock of those vehicles on the ground. They purchase these vehicles based on need. So, it was impossible for them to reverse the order, and if they did, we were to lose US$20,000. We even asked them if they could give us three or four vehicles.
“Lastly on this vehicle, it was bought for the government. But we must also look at durability. I used it only four times. It was sitting parked when it came, and I was still using my own car. I was only using it to go out of town. Look at the longevity and the shelf life, durability of the vehicle to be able to get to bad areas if I have to. That’s why it was purchased. It wasn’t a gift to Amin Modad.
“We made a request to an institution, LRA. And I am grateful to LRA for the support. In hindsight, I am concerned, I agree, I listened to the public. Again, they promulgated my resignation, I listened to the sentiments during that time, and I understand the sentiments. I understand how the political maneuvering appealed to the sentiments and the gullibility of the public. In hindsight, would I have bought a car for US$98,000? No, I wouldn’t. Again, the budgetary law wasn’t there. Would I have purchased a vehicle? No, I wouldn’t, because I was still not going to purchase a US$33,000 Chinese vehicle to do a job that I know it could not. In hindsight, maybe I would have purchased an SUV and used it. I have no regrets in laying the sense of the decision. But I listened to the sentiments.
“If there was takeaway from my interaction with the President, there was a question he asked me: “for US$98,000 is that the cheapest you could have gotten?” When I spoke with him, I believe he understood my concerns. He never asked me to resign. That was the only concern he had at the time, and I had all the justifications,” Modad said.
Regarding having any foreknowledge of President Boakai sanctioning an investigation into the vehicle purchase, former Minister Modad said he believed the President initiated an investigation into the matter.
“I believe there was an investigation. When I was called to meet the president on this, he arrived on Saturday, I met him on Tuesday. During that conversation, you had the Minister of State, his political advisor, security advisor. They had done some investigation. It was clear there was no corruption. It wasn’t an act of corruption. The only sentiment the president conveyed to me personally was the cost of the vehicle. And again, I explained our side. We showed the quotations. It’s a reality of the cost of vehicle at that time. There wasn’t any ceiling. I had the option of buying a durable vehicle or a Chinese vehicle. I am also a big person. You don’t expect me to go sit in a small vehicle. There were lot of variables, but the key variable was the functionality of the vehicle,” he reasoned.
Battling Status Quo, Vested Business Interests, Corrupt Media
According to the former Commerce Minister, one of the reasons that he became targeted for the horrendous misinformation campaigns when he took over the Ministry was because he did not waver in doing his job, which he said meant going against the status quo.
“I was doing my job, and doing your job means you were going against the status quo. There were concessions that were doing nonsense here. There were concessions that were importing every single thing you can think about. I put a stop to that. I ensured that they purchase locally. Those same concessions have powerful people around here. I opened the market. You saw the reduction in price of every commodity on the market. I broadened the rice market. All the 12 importers we had when I took over were inherited. When I became Minister I granted six to eight permits for rice importations. So, I faced pressure from the opposition, I faced pressure from some members of the business community who were not happy that I had broadened the market. I faced pressure by politicians who benefited from the status quo. So, there was lot of pressure out there. Again, it was distracting; it wasn’t fair to the government. We inherited a dysfunctional government. Every institution had not only financial issues, but structural issues as well. It took a long time for us to get to the point where we became functional, and it would have been very retrogressive if it had continued that way.
“I as the Minister of Commerce and my team did a complete assessment of the rice industry and every other commodity that was coming into the country. There were sleepless nights where I analyzed those commodities; I would analyze the individuals who were bringing in those commodities, the market trends, among others. On the issue of the rice, the first week I took over, I received communication from the rice importers referring to previous communication to the previous government, requesting in increase in the price of rice. They articulated several reasons. When we came in, they made the same request, asking for an increase and we got to the table. Some of their reasons were genuine,” Modad said.
Explaining the toll that his no-nonsense stance for Liberianization took as Commerce Minister, Modad lamented how Liberians intentionally hid beneath the cloak of advocacy to extort him.
“We have some very good advocates, but we have a very corrupt society. And I am sorry to say this. Even the press is very corrupt. I have records of editors/publishers calling me and sending me screenshots of Monday’s newspaper release, “The Most Corrupt Minister- Stole US$150,000”. If you don’t give me US$3,000 I will publish it. So, it was a very trying period. Until you sat in my shoes at that period to understand how gullible the public and how treacherous our political system is. I was fighting people from all fronts. I was fighting the business community that was happy that these things were going on. I was fighting a corrupt system that was against the changes I was making. Officials, people in government, people from the private sector, powerful people, would call me to please grant IPD to this institution for this reason and I would say no, particularly if they do not support Liberian businesses. I was making genuine enemies because I was doing my work.
“There is not much real advocacy in Liberia. A lot of the advocacy is exploitative. There were personal interests all along. There are people linked to some of these media institutions that have called me to bring in certain commodities. I told that person that I am opening the economy and they can import anything, but not those that are produced in Liberia. You cannot bring in flour, steel rod, honey, tissue. There were things that I listed. I told him if he wanted IPD for rice he could get it the same day because I want Liberians to get into the rice. That person took exception to it,” former Minister Modad said.
On his cozy relationship with President Boakai
Mr. Modad maintains that he has a cozy relationship with his former boss, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai even though he no longer serves in his cabinet.
“He and I spoke about a month ago. I still believe the President has explicit confidence in me. He knows there was no corruption. He did his own investigation. Those who know me better know the changes I brought to the government. GAC, I am sure audited, LACC has audited. My life has been open. I am still open to any investigation,” Modad said confidently.
Still a staunch party person
In a rather surprising twist, given how he was seemingly pressured into resigning, especially in a manner sanctioned by his own Unity Party chairman, businessman Modad seemed offbeat about his role in the party and the prospects for the party making significant impacts towards improving the lives of the Liberian people.
“I am still a full-fledged member of the Unity Party. I am leader in the Unity Party. I also serve as chairman of the National Advisory Council of the Unity Party. So there is no issue with the Unity Party. The reaction by the chairman was an issue, something that was not appreciated across the board of the Unity Party. I am a party person. We fought for this administration. I am still confused; a lot of people are still perplexed with why he did go in the press.
“I lost to Chairman Tarpeh at the convention, I should be the sore one. But we moved on. We came together as a party and we won an election. I have graduated from being chairman of a party to a minister in administration. I held nothing against him. There was no issue for me. It was about now impacting the country, doing the things we committed to, the commitments we made. It was about working together. Yes indeed, you were chairman for seven months by that time.
“You never went into the press, you never had a press conference to thank the partisans that supported you, you never had a press conference to thank the collaborating parties, you never had press conference to address key issues that were impacting the country at that time, we’re talking about financial crimes, corruption, war crimes, so many. There were exogenous issues that were impacting the country; you as chairman never got into the press or engaged the press on these issues. Your first press conference was to denigrate your predecessor. I leave it with him, I hold nothing against him. I still remain a full-fledged member of the Unity Party. And if you look at that conference that he had, he never had the executives there. So it did not have a broad consensus of the Unity Party.
“What I expected from him as chairman, and from anybody who had doubt in my credibility, the most professional and appropriate thing to do was to call me or to investigate. The Chairman should have called me. I am in the Unity Party for a long time. No one can deny the role I’ve played in the Unity Party, the role played in getting this government elected. You cannot take away from me,” Modad said.
Regarding his disposition as to whether the Boakai administration will make positive impact on the lives of the Liberian people, Modad was unequivocal in the confidence he reposed in his party’s ability to deliver the goodies.
“The government is already making positive impact. Road projects are going on. You don’t know how tight the shoe is until you’re wearing it. The inner workings of government, the complexities of government, coupled with how dysfunctional we met it, we have gone far. The institutions were bankrupt. We met institutions with some ministers who up till now don’t have adequate transportation. There are some deputy ministers who don’t even have transportation, but they are still giving all they have to make it. Road projects have picked off, the health system is being revamped, electricity, water, telecommunications, all the basic ingredients to have a functional society and economy are improving.
“But there are also challenges. You also have existential situation that is having a profound impact on the economy. Let’s look at USAID, the cessation of support to Liberia and globally. USAID was investing into Liberia US$200 million annually with their various social programs in healthcare, education. Those were providing indirect support to the budget by donor support. Those troubles are not going away. It is the government obligation now to find means to support those areas. I heard the other day that there was a shortage of HIV medication. A lot of that came from the donor support. There are a lot of existential issues that are impacting our economy, our society that the government is addressing responsibly,” Modad said confidently, noting that the government is now reintegrating into the global system with credibility.
“We are vying for seat at the Security Council. I just learned that the Minister of Finance has been elected in a global body. The Minister of Health was elected as Vice Chair of a global health group. We are making progress. There are challenges. Are individuals perfect? Individuals are not perfect. Ministers are not perfect.”
On Senator Snowe’s controversial “government failure” wishful thinking statement
The Unity Party stalwart, Amin Modad, used the platform to weigh in on the trending Bomi County Senator statement in which he wished that the Boakai government fails because he Snowe, as a major opposition player, wants the Unity Party government to be a one-term administration.
“I did not question a lot of things Senator Snowe said. Everyone has the right to criticize government, especially if there are shortcomings. He has the right, the opposition has the right. Even the chairman of the Unity Party, one of his responsibilities is to highlight missteps in the administration if there are missteps. But when you say you wish the government to fail, I take exception to it. Or you wish the president to fail so you can remove his administration. I take serious exception to it. It’s not exclusive or selective. If the government fails, you fail as a senator or as a representative. You are part of government. Your people in your constituency are also impacted. Your right to criticize the government, that I don’t question, rather, the vile and malicious tendencies that I are brewing in our political system.
“I saw him complaining about his safety. You’re a senator; you have bodyguards, and what have you. Honorable Snowe was one of those that went on Spoon TV to perpetuate this malicious story about me and this vehicle. This is someone that I have known for years. He should have called me and asked what happened about the car. He did not. Yet and still, he went out there and perpetuated the same thing. It was after he and Senator McGill went out with this malicious story, that’s when my wife and kids were attacked.
“Snowe is someone we all know is only concerned about himself, politically. He’s concerned now about his safety, his health, crying foul all over the place because of a misplaced statement. He just needs to apologize,” Modad further said.
Can CDC Make a Comeback?
Leaving no stone unturned, Modad added his two-cent worth to the much-touted CDC 2029 comeback. According to the business mogul-cum politician, the Liberian people are not as gullible as people perceive them to be, especially those in the hinterland.
“They made their decision to change the CDC based on its performance. Where we are right now, I believe fervently the Unity Party is performing. I think by 2027 we will see more profound impact on the economy. People lives are changing already. There is a semblance of international credibility. The business community has credibility in the government. There is progress despite the challenges. I am not saying that CDC doesn’t have a political space, but with the performance that the Unity Party has started, and I know it will continue, Unity Party will be re-elected.