As Tweah-Konneh Controversy Deepens
IPNEWS: The advance payments of US$37 million by HPX Group into the Liberian Government’s Revenue Account at the Central Bank of Liberia in December 2019 and March 2022 were a refundable gesture of goodwill, HPX Group said in a statement Tuesday, December 19.
The Government of Liberia and HPX Group subsidiaries Ivanhoe Liberia and SMFG entered into a Framework Agreement on 20 December 2019.
It was subsequently amended on 30 March 2022. The purpose of the Framework Agreement was to set forth the framework for the negotiation of an agreement to secure sufficient rail and port infrastructure in the Yekepa-Buchanan rail and port corridor to be able to evacuate iron ore from HPX’s Guinean-Nimba Iron Ore Project.
The Framework Agreement as amended was announced publicly and received strong support from the Government of Liberia.
Since 2019, the source said HPX has continued to negotiate with the Government of Liberia on terms and payments that would be payable to the Government of Liberia once the final agreement is signed.
The group argued that the Framework Agreement merely committed the parties to engage in good faith negotiations of a concession agreement on terms that would then provide access to government-owned rail and port infrastructure.
It added that it was not an agreement for the actual use of those assets, and it did not require ratification under Liberian law.
According to the statement, the payment of the USS$37m was done through the United States Government’s Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
It explained further that HPX Group agreed, as a gesture of goodwill, to make refundable advance payments to the Government of Liberia at its official request of some of the anticipated fees and taxes that would be due and payable to Liberia if and when a binding concession agreement came into force.
If none did, it said, these advance payments would be refundable to the HPX Group.
These advance payments, which were paid into the Government of Liberia Revenue Account at the Central Bank of Liberia consisted of US$7 million in December 2019 and US$30 million in March 2022.
The advance payments are refundable if certain milestones relating to the negotiation and implementation of the concession agreement are not met.
As it stands today, the source noted that several of these milestones have been missed and the HPX Group has reserved its rights to seek refund of the upfront payments.
The HPX Group has not done so because of ongoing discussions with the Liberian Government that the HPX Group believes will ultimately result in an agreement beneficial to both Liberia and the HPX Group.
The HPX Group has always been entirely transparent about the fact that the advance payments were made to the Government of Liberia and publicly disclosed them.
It detailed that the HPX remains committed to the development of a world-class infrastructure corridor, owned by the Government of Liberia, and operated under the principles of non-discriminatory, multi-user access with each participant to meet responsible access charges, under the oversight of an independent operator not linked to mining operators.
HPX says remains committed to supporting the Government of Liberia to achieve this vision and welcomes full transparency of all transactions and dealings between the Liberian Government mining companies and other concessionaires.
As a US Company, HPX, and its directors and management remain committed to and strongly embrace the highest standards of ethical behavior that are in line with community and government expectations not only in Liberia but internationally and are subject to and committed to fully complying with the laws of Liberia, the United States of America and other jurisdictions governing all such transactions.
Last week, against the background of the visa restriction placed on him recently by the United States Department of State, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning Samuel D. Tweah, Jr reacted Friday, December 15, publicly to the allegation which also affected his family, blaming his designation on the level of detailed misinformation given to U.S. congressional leaders against the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), and maintained that the action is “unbelievably unjust, unfair and is a fundamental violation of their rights”.
Minister Tweh however vowed, while describing himself as a father and a husband, to fight what he called the “injustice meted out to me and my family irrespective of the might of the power of the individual or of the country inflicting that harm”, saying that he has always loved the United States and its ideals. “I lived close to a decade as a resident of the U.S. and received graduate education there. America is a truly great country and democracy,” he said.
Tweah argued that the allegation and verdict read thus: “Pursuant to Section 7031(c) [of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023] the United States is publicly designating Tweah, Chie, and Nuquay, for their involvement in significant corruption by abusing their public positions through soliciting, accepting, and offering bribes to manipulate legislative processes and public funding, including legislative reporting and mining sector activity.”
He further recalled the designation states, “As part of this action, their immediate family members are also designated, including their spouses Delecia Berry Tweah, Abigail Chie, and Ruthtoria Brown Nuquay, and Tweah and Nuquay’s minor children.”
While categorically denying the allegations levied against him, Tweah retorted, saying “I have never influenced legislative processes” whatever that implies. Specific reference to the mining sector confuses me but I believe this reference pertains to my involvement to developing a multi-user gateway through the third amendment of ArcelorMittal’s current concession and through granting rail access to HPX, an American company looking to transport rail from Guinea through Liberia.“
Making a link to the submission, he said about a year ago in Washington D.C. he received hints that persons connected with an American company, High Power Explorations Inc. (HPX) were trying to get him on Treasury sanctions because he was allegedly or supposedly “favoring AccelorMittal Limited (AML) over HPX and preventing HPX from accessing the rail to conduct its investment in Guinea through Liberia.
“My informant knew this was unjust and unfair, knowing the role I was playing on the Inter-ministerial Concessions Committee and understanding the difficulties and complexities of the negotiation. I was also informed that persons close to HPX were considering sanctions against me because the company had paid US$ 37 million to the Government of Liberia through the national budget since 2019 and was yet to have an agreement with the Government,” he said.
He argued, “Legitimate monies received by the Government of Liberia for the development of Liberia through the national budget is never a bribe. That an agreement has been difficult to reach because of complexity surrounding a pre-existing agreement is no reason to threaten government officials with sanction.”
Minister Tweah who has been in charge of his portfolio since 2018 upon the ascendency of President George Manneh Weah said he is providing these explanations and contexts because “these are chatters that have underpinned threats of sanction against me and my family from powerful individuals; It is important for the public to understand and know these things; We have not discussed them publicly as a government but now have an obligation to do so under the current circumstances”.
“I was advised that to avoid sanction, I should withdraw my support for ArcelorMittal’s third amendment until after the election. It was on this basis that I advised President Weah to turn over negotiations on the rail to the U.S. Government since too much propaganda and misinformation were threatening to destroy members of his government.
“The president obliged and the Americans for a brief moment tried to bring both HPX and A together to reach some understanding on the multi-user rail system. Meetings were held in London and Washington. Unfortunately, these meetings did not achieve anything, and the Americans withdrew and turned negotiations back to the Government of Liberia,” he averred.
“The truth of the matter is that ArcelorMittal has an agreement with the Government of Liberia signed by the Unity Party Government that gives Mittal the right to use the Nimba rail and to be an operator of this rail. In the Government’s vision to develop a multiuser rail system, we have tried to have Mittal relinquish operatorship of the rail to an Independent third-party rail operator for purposes of fairness and equity”, Tweah said.
He noted that ArcelorMittal has not been open to this position, and they, the government, have been at a deadlock in the negotiations for more than three years. Realizing the impossibility of having ArcelorMittal give up rail operatorship, and knowing the Government was not willing to proceed to international arbitration, the Government moved to a position of having Mittal become the User-Operator in exchange for other critical rights Mittal would have to give up under its current concession that would enable fair and equitable access to third parties such as HPX.
He narrated that he would have enabled the parties to reach a compromise, noting unfortunately, that HPX did not seem open to such a compromise and had insisted that Mittal abandons the rail operatorship.
“Mittal itself does not want to give up rail operatorship. As a consequence, Samuel Tweah became the biggest victim in this power play between two billionaires, each of whom aims to undo and outmaneuver the other. This is fundamentally unfair to me and requires correction by the U.S. authorities,” Minister Tweh explained.
He said a few months prior to the 2023 elections, the IMCC paid a visit to the Port of Buchanan; but prior to this visit, “we had taken a position to press ArcelorMittal harder to share the current facilities at the port of Buchanan with HPX and to accept small shipments, about one to two million metric tons of ore through Guinea, preferably from HPX, since under the current concession Mittal is obliged to sharing both rail and port.”
He clarified that he narrated all these positionings and repositioning to the Americans to prove that neither he nor other members of the Government of Liberia were biased toward one investor against the other, but that we were bent on finding a practical solution to a very complex problem.
“Given legal concession rights ArcelorMittal has under the current concession forcing them out of operations of the rail would require litigation or the Armed Forces of Liberia bursting through their premises, violating international law. Since the Government did not prefer any of these two options, we could only concede to Mittal’s operations in exchange for other rights for third party companies like HPX,” he stressed.
“However, these explanations still evidently did not impress some higher ups in Washington who have continued to use Africa Intelligence, a propaganda media outfit, to rain attacks against the Government of the CDC. The headline of one of Africa Intelligence’s articles published on September 29, 2023, reads: George Weah irks Washington and Robert Friedland (he is the billionaire owner of HPX) with mine transfers to ArcelorMittal. Several such false stories have been planted internationally and locally,” he added.
Tweah said as they leave the Government, they have left copious transition notes to guide the new administration on these issues. The latest thinking is to find a way for HPX to share the port of Buchanan with ArcelorMittal since it may take a long time for HPX or other third parties to develop separate berths at Buchanan,” he explained, furthering, “We wish the new administration luck in these negotiations and look forward to Liberia having a fair and equitable multi-user rail system.”
On the heels of these clarification, the man under whose Samuel Tweah, ascended to prominence within the treasury department of the government of Liberia, Amara Konneh, former Finance and Development minister swiftly reacted Samuel Tweah’s justications and clarification specifically on the HPX controversial payment of $37 million to the Government of Liberia (GOL) through the budget since 2019, to the Consolidated Account at the Central Bank of Liberia for fiscal operations without a ratified concession agreement by the Legislature, which he termed as “illegal”.
Konneh stated that the deal is suspicious in that up until Thursday’s press conference, the Liberian public knew little or nothing about the GOL-AML-HPX deal.
“HPX is High Power Exploration Incorporated, a company that is licensed to mine iron ore in Guinea, close to the border with Liberia in Nimba County. The company intends to ship its iron ore through Liberia since the port of Buchanan is closer to its operations area than Conakry, the capital of Guinea. But to do so, the HPX needs a concession agreement to use the railroad from Yekepa to Buchanan which is currently under the control of Arcelor Mittal (AML) based on its existing mineral development agreement with the Government of Liberia (GOL).
While the negotiations are still ongoing among the parties – Arcelor Mittal, HPX, and the Government – the GOL, through Mr. Tweah, has been taking money from HPX in contravention of Liberian laws.”
“Section 88.1 of the Amended and Restated Procurement and Concession Act (PPCC) of 2010 clearly states that “.. no concession shall be implemented unless the proposed project has been issued with a certificate for concession”. Also, Section 5.2(e) of the Amended and Restated Public Finance Management Act (PFM) of 2019 states that resources that become public money upon receipt include “proceeds received by the state from the sale or leasing of any property owned by the state.”
“Hence, by receiving payments from HPX without a consummated concession agreement with the GOL, Minister Tweah violated provisions of both the PFM Act and the PPCC Act, two sacred instruments that Finance Ministers MUST uphold. If there were “difficulties in having an agreement,” why not work around those “difficulties” before collecting the money from HPX? On what basis did he accept the money? How was the money accounted for in the budget? What revenue line item was it placed under? The House of Representatives rejected AML’s amended agreement that was under consideration. The timing between the payment of the $30 million and the rejection raises fundamental questions that must be answered.”
“Appropriations are made through the budget. Direct payments and disbursement are executed through the consolidated accounts based on projected revenues received as actuals.
Too many unanswered questions! I implore the 54th legislature to use part of the 10 days they have been called by President Weah to receive and debate the draft budget to investigate these irregularities to avoid potential litigation. Don’t leave it for the 55th Legislature and the Boakai Administration. We need an open, transparent government to build a credible state.” Amara Konneh, former Finance and Development Minister contended.
However, in a swift reaction to former Minister Amara Konneh’s assessment of the HPX 37Million Payment, Minister Smauel Tweah, insisted that the “HPX PAYMENTS MET PFM REQUIREMENTS UNDER LIBERIAN LAW.”
Tweah in a 10 counts clarification to substantiate the HXP 37 Million payment stated that ‘ HPX engagement with Liberia grew out of a ratified international bilateral agreement reached between Guinea and Liberia on transport of Guinean ore through LIBERIA.
The finance minister argued that the PPCC approved all procurement of port concession for HPX which was issued a concession certificate, which is prepared by MFDP. The Liberian Cabinet endorsed this procurement.
He maintained that HPX and Government then entered a framework agreement in 2019. Both sides agree to work on Concession and Access agreement to be ratified by the national Legislature-stressing that HPX in this agreement agreed to pay $7 million to Liberia’s Consolidated Account through the Central Bank of Liberia. This was part payment of future payments the company would make if it got a concession agreement. ‘THIS $ 7 MILLION WOULD BE REFUNDED IF AN ACCESS AGREEMENT WAS NOT REACHED BY BOTH PARTIES. HPX WOULD MAKE REQUEST FOR THIS REFUND TO BE MADE!’
Tweah insisted that both parties AMENDED and RESTATED the 2019 Framework agreement in 2022. The terms were similar with other revisions but this time the Company agreed to pay $ 30 million and to consider the original $7 million NOT DUE. Again, if a concession could NOT be reached by a specific date Liberia agreed to REFUND HPX by a certain date UPON REQUEST FROM HPX.
“The repayment date has since come and gone but HPX has deferred the APPLICATION OF THE CLAUSE ON REPAYMENT in the spirit of Government reaching agreement with Both HPX and ARCELOR MITTAL without which the Access Agreement cannot happen. THESE LETTERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION!”
“The new Administration will continue to work to secure an agreement with all sides. If this is NOT possible HPX would make a request for repayment as agreed in the FRAMEWORK and the Government would REFUND. No Liberian laws have been VIOLATED IN these processes as outlined above. “
“We did NOT explain all these processes because we don’t run Government in the public this way. However, when politically motivated individuals aim to mislead the public, we are forced to RESPOND this way. Finally, all FRAMEWORK AGREEMENTS WERE DULY SIGNED BY THE FOLLOWING ON BEHALF OF GOL. MINISTER OF MINES AND ENERGY, CHAIR OF NATIONAL INVESTMENT COMMISSION, MINISTER OF FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING And ATESSTED TO BY THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE .”
“So, Mr. KONNEH this is not ‘SAMUEL TWEAH OPERATION’ AS YOU TRIED TO MISLEAD THE PUBLIC. U owe an apology to US SIGNERS, the Legislature you accused and HPX you are trying to INDICT! We await your apology. Again, think before writing! ALL REFERENCES you made today about PPCC laws were met and we could not go to LEG bc we don’t have an agreement yet to carry there.”
“For those asking for accountability on 37 million, this money plus all other Government monies are discussed in GOL expenditure reports. No separate account can be given for a single revenue source. Monies go into the pot and are spent for salary, roads and other public goods.
I believe Mr Konneh should know this as Former Minister of Finance.” Samuel Tweah clarified.
