MONROVIA – The Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) of Liberia has formally launched an investigation into the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), issuing a detailed request for critical documents amid mounting allegations of financial malpractice under the leadership of Mayor John Charuk Siafa.
In a strongly worded communication dated May 28, 2025, and signed by Mohammed A. Nasser, Officer-in-Charge at the FIA, the agency outlined a litany of troubling findings based on gathered intelligence. These include arbitrary deductions from employees’ salaries, the issuance of fictitious receipts to taxpayers, the presence of ghost employees on the MCC payroll, and duplicate names appearing across payroll records.
The letter, titled “Request For Information,” was also copied to Cllr. Natu Oswald Tweh, Minister of Justice and Chairman of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Inter-Ministerial Committee, signaling the seriousness with which the matter is being treated.
According to the FIA, the request is grounded in Section 67.3 of the FIA Act of 2021, which grants the agency broad powers to obtain information from public institutions, conduct preliminary investigations, and access restricted records for the purpose of enforcing anti-corruption laws. The letter reminded Mayor Siafa that the FIA is an independent national authority mandated by the Legislature to investigate financial crimes and irregularities without hindrance.
Among the documents demanded from the MCC are payroll records from March 2024 to the present, both from the Ministry of Finance and those submitted to the Civil Service Agency, as well as all bank submitted payrolls, account details of MCC held bank accounts, and copies of receipts issued to taxpayers since January 2025. Additionally, the agency requested any internal investigative reports and access to the MCC’s e-platform for financial transactions within the same period.
The FIA has given a deadline of June 2, 2025, for the submission of all requested documents. The communication warned that failure to comply would render the Mayor and the MCC complicit in what the FIA described as “suspicion,” prompting the agency to draw legal inferences based on the facts at hand.
This development marks a new chapter in the growing scrutiny of public financial management under the Boakai administration. It also comes amid recent reports of unrest among MCC employees, some of whom allege salary deductions without explanation and poor working conditions.
The FIA assured the Mayor of a “speedy, impartial, and transparent” analysis of the information, but underscored the urgency and legal gravity of its demand.
As of press time, the Monrovia City Corporation has not publicly responded to the FIA’s request.
