Where is LACC Probe of ELENILTO -Tipoteh Questions

5 July 2011

In his consistent and persistent monitoring of the president of Liberia’s declaration of zero tolerance for corruption, the internationally renowned Liberian Economist, Dr Togba-Nah Tipoteh, is calling upon the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) to become transparent by telling the people of Liberia the truth about the investigation that LACC is supposed to be making into the case of ELENITO, the foreign company that is declared by government to have won the second round of bidding on the western cluster Iron Ore Deposits.

According to Dr Tipoteh, a one time Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, about two months ago the Chairperson of LACC said that LACC “will act and begin looking into how the whole thing (that is the ELENITO case) came together”. Dr Tipoteh lamented that we are still to hear from LACC about how the whole ELENITO case came together’’.
When asked by probing journalists as to why he has been consistent and persistent on the western Cluster Mining Saga, Dr. Tipoteh replied that a convincingly truthful evaluation of the iron mining sector is a key to understanding and solving the corruption problem in Liberia.

He insisted that because of the fact that corruption in government has to do with the use of government funds for private gain, it is most important to examine the area where the main part of government funds come from, and that area is the iron mining sector.

Dr Tipoteh reminded the press that his close examination of the first round of the western cluster bidding resulted in the President of Liberia admitting publicly that the Delta Mining Company had been wrongfully declared the winner of the bid because no due diligence had taken place for the government to know as to whether or not the company could carry out the required contractual arrangement in full and on time.

Prior to his intervention, Dr Tipoteh observed that the president has declared the Delta Mining Company to have been the winner of the first round bidding, during her annual message to the National Legislature amidst the thunderous applause ofmembers of the Legislature.

Finally, Dr. Tipoteh declared patriotism for vigilance in the examination of the iron ore mining sector because here is the case of ELENILTO, a company that has won the second round of bidding on the western cluster, but has not done one day of iron mining anywhere in the world

Dr Tipoteh said that to make the ELENILTO case at once shameful and corrupt, the government of Liberia is allowing ELENILTO to operate illegally as seen in the large ELENILTO billboards around the country.
The fact of the matter is, Dr Tipoteh concluded, ELENILTO should not have even been allowed by government to participate in the bidding for mining in the western cluster because the company did not meet most basic requirements of five years minimum experdiencein iron ore minng.

To date Tipoteh again lamented, ELENILTO has not done one day of iron mining anywhere, and by declaring ELENILTO as the winner of the second round bidding, the Unity Party led Government is clearly demonstrating it has positive rather than zero tolerance for corruption.

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