By Patrick Tokpah, Bong County
Reports from Bong County have disclosed the alleged missing of US$50,000 from the account of the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) deepening concerns of the integrity of the institution under the watch of Madam Paulette Findley as the officer in charge.
CARI’s Comptroller, Enson Joe Amara, reportedly escaped with money which is reported to have been injected into the account of CARI to fund a USAID project, although our correspondent did not name the project.
However, the management of CARI along with the Liberia National Police is reported to have currently been in serious search for comptroller Joe Amara, who is believed to have absconded to the United States of America at present.
The CARI’s Communication Director Papa Morris confirmed that Joe Amara was previously requested by the Officer in Charge at the Institute, Madam Findley, to make available all financial statements, something he refused to do, even though Papa Morris told our reporter that all bank receipts or interactions were falsified by Joe Amara.
Currently CARI is said to be exerting all efforts to contact Interpol of the United States of America to have Joe Amara arrested.
“Mr. Amara is believed to have crossed the border to neighboring Sierra Leone and wants to make his way to the U.S. Please contact the police in any country if you find Mr. Amara. Please help us share this post” a Social Media Post from Papa Morris said.
On the contrary, residents of the County have termed Morris’s statement as unrealistic. “It’s unthinkable for one person that is only a “B” signatory to withdraw over 50 thousand United States Dollars from the accounts of the institute without the other signatories, with signatories ‘A’ and ‘B’ should be present before withdrawal of such huge amount,” the callers on a local phone-in radio talk-show contended
The callers urged the Government of Liberia to quickly intervene in order to save the research institute.
Another caller accused the head of being in the know of what happened to the amount. “The criminal activities at the institution is well planned and meets the approval of the head,” he said.
Some of the callers recalled the dismissal of one Arthur Wennah, a research assistant who disclosed the stealing of a generator, tankers and other materials, and pay the head of the doers, David Tokpa who admitted to police that they stole those items.
The citizens speaking on local radio stations asked the president to take immediate action to restore the reputation of CARI.
At the same time, the Central Agriculture Research Institute is said to be at center for corruption since the appointment Madam Paulette Findley as Officer in Charge of institute, as CARI is said to have lost its integrity.
Our Bong County correspondent quoted several casual laborers and some researchers at the institute as naming the selling of a 50 KVA Generator, fuel tankers, containers, pipes, air conditioners and wires amongst other items belonging to CARI as part of the routine occurrences under the watch of Madam Findley over CARI.
David Tokpah, who was placed behind bars at the Headquarters of the Liberia National Police in Gbarnga and later on sent to court, has been released for the failure of the Findley led administration of CARI to appear at the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga.
The action by CARI’s administration, according to the researchers and casual laborers, was a planned deal between OIC Findley and Tokpah. Tokpah was accused of being one of those who stole a generator, tankers and other materials, and was charged by police but released based on the intervention of the administration, and reinstated.
The OIC, Madam Paulette Findley is yet to address these mounting mistrust and dishonesty; investigation continues.