IPNEWS: Sanctioned Margibi County Senator Nathaniel McGill has challenged the governments of the United States and Liberia to address the sanctions imposed on him and to hold both past and current public officials accountable for their actions while in office.
Senator McGill, a former Chairman of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and Minister of State for Presidential Affairs under the administration of ex-President George Manneh Weah, was compelled to resign after being accused by the US government of bribing business owners, receiving bribes from potential investors, and accepting kickbacks for steering contracts to companies in which he held an interest.
According to the US government, McGill manipulated public procurement processes to award multi-million-dollar contracts to companies in which he had ownership, including by abusing emergency procurement processes to rig contract bids.
McGill is also accused of involvement in a wide range of other corrupt schemes, including soliciting bribes from government office seekers and misappropriating government assets for his personal gain.
He is accused of using government funds allocated to other Liberian government institutions to run his own projects, making off-the-books payments in cash to senior government leaders, and organizing warlords to threaten political rivals.
The US government further stated, “McGill has received an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered.
McGill regularly distributes thousands of dollars in undocumented cash to other government officials for government and non-government activities.”
However, during a recent news conference at the Capitol Building in Monrovia, Senator McGill said he would continue to walk as a free man until proven guilty in a court of law on the allegations made by the US government.
He noted despite being sanctioned, his constituents elected him to serve in the Legislature, and he believes some individuals are using the sanctions to silence him. “I don’t like to dwell on this sanction thing because it’s been more than a year.
