What Did The US Treasury Department Say About Not Doing Business with Prince Johnson, Others?
\IPNEWS: In December 2021 on International Anti-Corruption Day, the US Mission in Liberia told Liberians that it stands in solidarity with all those committed to confronting and ending widespread corruption.
This, according to the US Embassy, includes those within the Government of Liberia who stands up against corruption, committed Liberian citizens and organizations seeking to challenge the impunity of corrupt officials, and international organizations supporting anti-corruption efforts. It then said sanctioning of Senator Prince Yormie Johnson on International Anti-Corruption Day in 2021, is one small part of that effort.
International Anti-Corruption Day has been observed annually on December 9 since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) on October 31, 2003 to raise public awareness for anti-corruption initiatives. There are currently 187 States party to the UNCAC. In addition to sending a message against corrupt behavior, the US Treasury uses its tools to increase transparency, accountability, and the rule of law. With these designations, Treasury encourages all governments to implement anti-corruption reforms to address vulnerabilities.
The U.S. Mission in Liberia has long reported on the pervasiveness of corruption within the Government of Liberia, including in the annual Human Rights Report. Organizations such as Transparency International also score Liberia very poorly in terms of corruption. But more than that, Liberian Government officials and citizens themselves regularly report on corrupt government activities that reach across all sectors of governance and society. No government is free from corruption, but no government can improve its democracy without simultaneously attacking corruption, and that effort must start at the very top, both in word and in deed.
The US government through its Treasury Department on International Anti-Corruption Day, we always calls on all three branches of the Government of Liberia to acknowledge that public officials should not receive financial benefit from their positions other than their salary and should take all necessary measures to stand up to the corruption that continues to erode the trust between the government and its people.
Corruption in Liberia: Prince Yormie Johnson
The U.S. government in December 2021 sanctioned Liberia’s ex-warlord and current senator Prince Yormie Johnson for alleged corruption.
The sanctions against Johnson come under the Global Magnitsky Act, which authorizes the U.S. government to sanction those it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the U.S.
Johnson was responsible for the slaying in 1990 of President Samuel Doe, who had been captured by his forces during the country’s 14-year civil war. Johnson sipped beer as he watched his men torture and mutilate Doe who begged in vain for mercy in a widely circulated video.
Now a trusted political ally of former international soccer star President George Weah, Johnson has been accused in a U.S. embassy statement of large-scale corruption.
Johnson denounced the sanctions, telling The Associated Press that the U.S. statement of allegations against him “is vague” because it does not present “facts” that he had been involved in corruption.
He said he is waiting for a more detailed explanation and challenged the U.S. government to give etails about which specific administrations in Liberia had paid him corrupt fees.
“What we want is the facts,” said Johnson. “You can accuse people, but the evidence is what is important. Coming from Uncle Sam’s website — obviously the most powerful nation on earth whose footprint we follow democratically — so you don’t just destroy people’s name by accusing them ithout facts.”
Travel sanctions were also imposed against Johnson’s wife, Ameria Bovidee Johnson, and their child, Blessing Johnson.
US Treasury Department Statement on Prince Y. Johnson
“Prince Yormie Johnson is a former warlord and current member of the Liberian Senate. He is the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security, Defense, Intelligence, and Veteran Affairs. In 1990, he was responsible for the murder of former Liberian President Samuel Doe, and Johnson is named in Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Report as having committed atrocities during the country’s first civil war.
As a Senator, Johnson has been involved in pay-for-play funding with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment. As part of the scheme, upon receiving funding from the Government of Liberia (GOL), the involved government ministries and organizations launder a portion of the funding for return to the involved participants. The pay-for-play funding scheme involves millions of U.S. dollars. Johnson has also offered the sale of votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money.
Johnson is designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is a current or former government official, or a person acting for or on behalf of such an official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.”
Sanctions Implications
The Global Magnitsky Act states that “persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated may themselves be exposed to sanctions or subject to an enforcement action. Furthermore, unless an exception applies, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction for any of the individuals or entities designated today sould be subject to U.S. sanctions.”
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897 here. For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here.
GLOBAL MAGNITSKY
Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, E.O. 13818 was issued on December 20, 2017, in recognition that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity as to threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; egrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.
Can Politicians Do Business with Sanctioned Prince Johnson?
When the US Treasury Department placed targeted sanctions of Nimba County Prince Y. Johnson it was very clear in the statement issued. The US Treasury Department said: “Prince Yormie Johnson is a former warlord and current member of the Liberian Senate. He is the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security, Defense, Intelligence, and Veteran Affairs. In 1990, he was responsible for the murder of former Liberian President Samuel Doe, and Johnson is named in Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Report as having committed atrocities during the country’s first civil war.
As a Senator, Johnson has been involved in pay-for-play funding with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment. As part of the scheme, upon receiving funding from the Government of Liberia (GOL), the involved government ministries and organizations launder a portion of the funding for return to the involved participants. The pay-for-play funding scheme involves millions of U.S. dollars. Johnson has also offered the sale of votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money.”
The US Treasury Department was specific in its counts against the Nimba County Senator, Prince Y. Johnson when it said: “The pay-for-play funding scheme involves millions of U.S. dollars. Johnson has also offered the sale of votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money.”
Accusing the Nimba Senator of offering the sale of votes in multiple Liberia elections in exchange for money is one reason he is sanctioned. So then, can any politician or political party do business with Senator Prince Y. Johnson having been accused of selling votes for his own financial interest? With the Senator being accused of selling votes, can any politician do business with him ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections and won’t be sanctioned by the US government for violating the targeted sanctions? These are the hard questions political pundits are asking.
Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s Influence in Two Elections in Liberia
It is now history that Senator Prince Y. Johnson played key role in the re-election of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2011 when he endorsed her, thus his kinsmen in vote-rich Nimba County, who consider him their ‘political godfather’ overwhelmingly voted for Mrs. Sirleaf to give her a second term.
In 2017, Senator Johnson switched allegiance to the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) during the run-off of the presidential election between former Vice President Joseph Boakai and former Senator George Weah. Sen. Johnson campaigned vigorously in his home county of Nimba, and in the end, Senator George Weah was elected overwhelmingly in the county and Liberia in general.
But with the Americans urging institutions or individuals not do any business with Senator Prince Y. Johnson, what is the political fate of the CDC-led government he helped to bring to power through manipulating votes from his county at the expense of his own people? Will the US sanction any politician or political party that does business with Senator Johnson, having indicted him in their words: “The pay-for-play funding scheme involves millions of U.S. dollars. Johnson has also offered the sale of votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money.”?
The Americans are specific about Senator Prince Johnson selling votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money, so is it prudent to state that seeking Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s endorsement ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections by any politician or political party is a clear risk, as would-be violators of the US sanction placed on him risked being sanctioned themselves?
There are interesting times ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections because a ‘political godfather’ of vote-rich Nimba County in person of Senator Prince Y. Johnson’s wings have been clipped politically by the US Treasury Department over his involvement of selling votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money. Will politicians or political parties ignore the US sanction placed on Senator Johnson for the sake of obtaining votes in vote-rich Nimba County and risked being sanctioned themselves?
As for the other four sanctioned former and current Liberian government officials in persons of Nathaniel McGill, Bill Twehway, Grand Cape Mount County Senator Varney Sherman and Sayma Syrenius Cephus fall into the same category with Senator Johnson, as doing business with them will also lead would-be sanction violators into trouble as they will be sanctioned as well.
The political bookmakers and pundits are watching keenly as the political unfolds ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
