–Support con man McGill political ambition
Despite the U.S. Government’s warning of a possible sanction against anyone doing business with Nathaniel Falo McGill and his sanctioned colleagues, the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change
(CDC) has awarded him a candidacy to contest for the Senatorial seat in Magibi County on their ticket in the October 10, Presidential and legislative elections.
The declaration of McGill as a winner of their primary, to contest the county Senatorial seat is a clear evidence of how tightly the Weah led government has been supporting McGill and other sanctioned officials which is a total disrespect to the United States Treasury Department mandate and their efforts to defend Democracy.
The ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) of President George Weah nominated the sanctioned and disgraced former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, McGill as the party’s senatorial candidate of Margibi County on white ballot, signaling the huge support he enjoys from the party’s hierarchy including President Weah.
McGill and two other top Weah’s officials, Bill Tweahway, former Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA) and Cllr. Sayma Syrenuius Cephus, former Solicitor General of Liberia, was sanctioned in August 2022 by the United States Treasury Department for public corruption and misuse of power . McGill, along with the two, was immediately suspended as they later bowed to public pressure and resigned their posts.
Sanctions under the Global Magnitsky program aim to target systemic corruption and human rights abuse, including the networks that engage in, facilitate, or perpetuate sustained patterns of such illicit behavior rather than incidental acts by individual targets.
The U.S. Treasury in August 2022 said, the Biden administration has sanctioned three Liberian government officials on accusations of committing corruption for personal gain.
The sanctions target Nathaniel McGill, chief of staff to President George Weah; Sayma Syrenius Cephus, the solicitor general and chief prosecutor of Liberia, and Bill Twehway, the managing director of the National Port Authority.
“Through their corruption these officials have undermined democracy in Liberia for their own personal benefit,” Brian Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial intelligence, said in a statement. “Treasury’s designations today demonstrate that the United States remains committed to holding corrupt actors accountable and to the continued support of the Liberian people.”
All three were hit with asset freezes on accusations of committing corruption in a country where such acts have long undermined its democracy and economy. The sanctions, the Treasury said, was a reaffirmation of the United States to hold corrupt actors accountable, regardless of their position or political position.
McGill was designated on a slew of accusations that he has used his position to enrich himself, including through steering multimillion dollar government contracts to companies he has an ownership stake in.
U.S. officials said he has bribed business owners and accepted bribes from potential investors as well as accepted bribes from government office seekers and misappropriated government assets.
“He has used government funds allocated to other Liberian government institutions to run his own projects, made off-the-books payments in cash to senior government leaders and organized warlords to threaten political rivals,” the Treasury said.
“McGill has received an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered.”
As the current solicitor general and chief prosecutor of Liberia, Cephus has been accused of developing close relationships with suspects of criminal investigations from whom he has received bribes in exchange for having their cases dropped.
The Treasury said he has worked with money launders for personal financial gain to drop investigations into their work and to shield them from prosecution.
According to the U.S. officials, Cephus has also tried to intimidate other prosecutors in an attempt to have them drop their investigations and has also blocked corruption cases involving members of government.
Twehway has been accused of diverting some $1.5 million in vessel storage fee funds from the National Port Authority, which he oversees, to a private account he controls.
The plan involved Twehway forming a private company that was awarded a National Port Authority contract for loading and unloading cargo.
“All three of these individuals have contributed to Liberia’s worsening corruption,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. “These designations reflect our commitment to implementing the United States Strategy on Countering Corruption and to partnering with the Liberian government and people to help the country chart a better course forward.”
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