IPNEWS: In 2020, the US the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Liberia’s Senator, Varney Sherman, for corruption and bribery and blocking his assets. OFAC noted that Senator Sherman, who was then chairman of the Liberian Senate Judiciary Committee, offered bribes to multiple judges associated with his trial for a 2010 bribery scheme during the former Sirleaf administration, and he had an undisclosed conflict of interest with the judge who ultimately returned a not guilty verdict in July 2019.
According to the US Treasury Department, “Sen. Sherman has routinely paid judges to decide cases in his favor, and he has allegedly facilitated payments to Liberian politicians to support the impeachment of Justice Kabina Ja’neh who has ruled against him.
According to the Treasury release, in the 2010 scheme that led to this trial, Sherman was hired by a British mining company in an effort to obtain one of Liberia’s last remaining mining assets, the Wologizi iron ore concession.
Sherman advised the company that, in order to obtain the contract, they first had to get Liberia’s procurement and concessions law changed by bribing senior officials.
In 2016, Sherman was indicted by the Liberian government, along with several other government officials, for their involvement in the USD 950,000 bribery scheme while in 2019, the presiding judge acquitted all individuals accused of being involved in the bribery scheme.
Sherman’s acts of bribery the treasury Department said demonstrates a larger pattern of behavior to exercise influence over the Liberian judiciary and the Ministry of Justice.
He is designated for being a foreign person who is a current or former government official responsible for or complicit in, or 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.
The report is part of International Day of Ant-corruption intended to raise public awareness for anti-corruption initiatives, which 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.
The sanction means Senator Varney Sherman 67, will not be allowed to travel to the United States and all access owned by him in relation to the U.S. has been blocked.”
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of these targets that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.
In addition, persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated today 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 could 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.”
Senator Sherman Has Been under US Targeted Sanction Since 2020 up to Present
According to the Magnitsky Act, “persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated today 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 could be subject to U.S. sanctions.”
Despite the clarity of the Magnitsky Act regarding those who have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), it seems the leadership of the Liberian Senate and members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petitions do not regard the consequences thereof, where those or any institution doing business with any targeted sanctioned Liberian government official for act of corruption, they themselves risked being sanctioned once it is established that the sanction has been violated.
Senate Leadership Allowed Sanctioned Senator Sherman to Chair the Confirmation Hearing of
Newly-confirmed Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh
Quite recently during the confirmation of Chief Justice-designate Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh, despite public outcries for the leadership of the Senate to withdraw the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petitions, Grand Cape Mount County Senator Varney Sherman due to him be sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, Liberians’ cries were ignored and Senator Sherman, along with his committee members went ahead with the confirmation hearing of the new Chief Justice.
The paradox is how can someone who is sanctioned by the US government for corruption activities in the Judiciary still being given the authority to head such an important committee in the Senate to cross examine an incoming Chief Justice. What morals did he bring to the confirmation hearing as chairman of the Committee when he is under US sanction for corrupt practices in the Liberian judicial system?
And to add insult to injury, members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petitions, including Senators Morris Saytumah (Grand Cape Mount County), Steve Zargo (Lofa County), Augustine Chea (Sinoe County), Emmanuel Nuquay (Margibi County) and Abraham Darius Dillon (Montserrado County), who the public had earlier called on to recuse themselves from the confirmation hearing once its chairman, sanctioned Senator Varney Sherman was chairing the confirmation hearing, also ignored the people’s call and joined their chairman to conduct the confirmation hearing.
A day following the confirmation of the Chief Justice by the Senate Plenary, several Liberians speaking on a Call-in Talk Show on a local radio in Monrovia, called on members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petitions to either resign from the Committee or recuse themselves from working with the sanctioned Grand Cape Mount County Senator, Varney Sherman, since the Senate leader has refused to ask Sherman to resign as Chairman of the Committee.
According to the callers, if the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petitions fail to distance themselves from the sanctioned Grand Cape Mount County Senator, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) should not hesitate to place each member of the Senate Committee on the targeted sanction list because they have deliberately violated the dictates of the sanction and continue to do business with sanctioned Senator Sherman by working with him on the Committee.
