By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A City Court in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, has issued an arrest warrant for Liberia’s Minister of Finance over allegations that he was involved in a $500m (£389m) corruption scam.
Samuel Tweh, along with four other senior officials who served in former President George Weah’s cabinet have been indicted for allegedly siphoning public funds while in office.
Weah lost power after six years in office to Joseph Boakai who pledged to crack down on corruption when he was sworn-in January.
The former football star’s administration has been plagued with allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement.
Tweh, who was previously sanctioned by the US for corruption, called the indictment a “politically motivated witch-hunt” against him and other former officials.
On Monday, the five former officials were indicted for economic sabotage, illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money, criminal conspiracy and other charges.
The City Court therefore issued warrants for their arrest.
Three of the men – former national security adviser Jefferson Karmoh, state prosecutor Nyenati Tuan and accountancy boss at the Finance Intelligence Agency (FIA), Moses Cooper, could not meet their bail conditions and have been detained in Liberia’s central prison.
Tweh and former FIA chief Stanley Ford are yet to be arrested as their whereabouts are unknown.
It is not the first time the ex-finance minister has been accused of corruption.
Last December, the US sanctioned him and two senators for “abusing their public positions through soliciting, accepting and offering bribes”.
Tweh denied this allegation at the time.
In response to Monday’s indictment, he wrote on Facebook: “Today a politically motivated witch-hunt has been officially launched against my person, calling for my arrest.
“Over the last six years, I have been a major political target and have faced falsely devilish accusations.”
