Comrades In Crimes

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Bility, Koffa  Vowing  For Speakership 

Koffa

Two international convicted  criminals, Jonathan Fonati  Koffa,   a former Zebulon town manager (a town in North Carolina), USA and  Musa Hassan Bility  a former staff of the Federation of International Football Associate (FIFA) are running  head to head to secure the third highest  seat of the land “Speaker of the 55th legislature”.

Unless Bility who is just elected as a Parliamentarian ,  Koffa is a  member of the 54th legislature, serves as representative for Grand Kru County district  #2 and completed the final  three years  as Deputy Speaker of the  54th legislature. 

In  their previous representative  services before coming to national politics,  Koffa was disbarred from legal practices,  sentenced to jail and fined for stealing  public and client money. 

On November 22, 2005, the Perspective  media outlet which was following Koffa criminal  case   reported that Counselor Jonathan Fonati Koffa had pleaded guilty to “four federal charges related to the suspected embezzlement of $500,000”.

While he was sentenced for 10 years  in prison, he  was also fined US$250,000.

The former Zebulon town manager (a town in North Carolina) was  charged with stealing government money and committing mail fraud, and two counts of wire fraud.

Also according to the paper, “Koffa, who was disbarred in April 2005,  faced  state charges of mishandling client money”.

This case arouses a lot of conversation among Liberians because Counselor Koffa is not an  ordinary Liberian. Many call him “brilliant, dedicated, ambitious” and use other flattering adjectives to describe him. He was however, best known at the time as  a colorful figure and close associate of Counselor Charles B. Brumskine the late.

Apparently, Fonati was in too much of a hurry to heed, which brings us to the Liberian parable: “Hurry, hurry bursts trousers”.

In 2019, FIFA judges found Bility guilty, ban him for 10 years  for misusing other resources sent to the Liberia Football Association and diverting money to businesses controlled by him,  also received benefits, a conflict of interest  which is  in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

He was  fined CHF500,000 (£407,000/$507,000,€455,000) by the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee after an investigation was opened on May 18  2018

Bility, a former President of the Liberia Football Association (LFA), is said to have misappropriated funds to entities owned by him or connected to his family.

This includes money from the “11 against Ebola” campaign, launched by FIFA in 2014 to help combat the spread of the deadly disease across Liberia and the rest of West Africa.

Bility was barred from standing for FIFA President in 2015 after serving a six-month ban two years earlier for improper use of confidential documents.

Prior to his ban, Bility resigned from two key roles within the CAF in protest at Ahmad’s leadership.

He stepped down as head of the African Nations Championship Standing Committee and as a member of the CAF Emergency Committee in a strongly-worded letter where he said the Madagascar official was “leading this noble organization in the wrong direction”.

During the  recent October 10, legislative and presidential  elections, Bility was elected by the citizens  of Nimba  County district #7 waiting for certification  but has intensified  lobbying  as Koffa does,   with his  colleagues  to secure  the Speakership position of the incoming  55th legislature. 

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