IPNews-Monrovia: Impeccable sources at Crane Currency Printing Company in Sweden has informed the Independent Probe Newspaper (IPNews), that Crane Currency has been excluded formal future money printing contracts with the government of Liberia following a scandal involving USD 150 million in illicitly printed bank notes, Finance Minister has told the Liberian Senate in an Executive Session.

According to the information gathered by IPNews, Samuel Tweah told Senators that the new bank notes will be printed to replace all notes currently in circulation, which could include those that were allegedly fraudulently printed by Crane Currency.

The scandal which involves approximately 16 billion in local currency was printed illicitly by Crane Currency and then funneled back into the Liberian economy. A number of senior government officials, including members of the Central Bank of Liberia are facing charges of economic sabotage, theft of property, criminal conspiracy, facilitation, and solicitation. An additional charge of money laundering was added earlier this month.   Nathaniel Patry, Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia, said that so far no decision has been made on who will print the new bank notes.

When Crane Currency was contacted from its base in Malta for their reaction to the news that their business was unwelcome in Liberia, Crane responded: ‘We do not comment about our customers or potential customers’. Crane stated.

It may be recorded last March, Crane Currency was accused of receiving over 700,000 for printing additional Liberian dollar bank notes, over and above what had been contracted.

The news came just one day after Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had inaugurated a customer Care center at Crane Currency’s Malta plant, praising the company and saying it had ‘exceeded expectations’.

Here in Liberia, it is being linked with ‘one of the biggest financial scandals in the history of Liberia’. An excerpt from the report by the Liberian President’s investigation Team states that ‘Crane was a party to two contracts to print Liberian dollars, including the illicit funds, and that in 2016 it ‘knowingly and willfully conspired with officials of the CBL to defraud the government of Liberia’.

In a previous responds Crane Currency insisted it had ‘operated in full compliance with the law’, adding that it ‘rejects completely any allegation of wrongdoing’.

This article was brought to you by the project: “Transparency and Accountability in the Public Sector”, with focus: “Following the Money”, And support from OSIWA