A Liberian-owned construction firm, Boimah Engineering Incorporated [BEI] has accused Ecobank Liberia Limited of inflating a 2007 loan from US$140,000 to more than US$351,000.
The Firm has meanwhile, charged the Central Bank of Liberia [CBL], and the judiciary with failing to intervene.
At a press conference on Monday, September 7, in Monrovia, BEI CEO John Kpehe Boimah, released 26 attachments, which include “predatory lending, regulatory complicity, and institutionalized fraud spanning nearly 20 years.”
He challenged Ecobank, CBL, and the courts to refute any fact in the documents.
The briefing came two days before the CBL’s planned national conference on Non-Performing Loans.
Boimah called the event a potential “public relations charade unless it addresses systemic issues affecting borrowers.”
From US$140,000 to US$351,164
According to BEI, the dispute began in July 2007, when it obtained a US$140,000 loan from Ecobank to buy a mobile batch plant, and mixing truck for a DAI/LCIP project on the Sanquin Diversion Channel in Sinoe County.
The loan was backed by a DAI contract, and a commitment letter guaranteed payment directly to BEI/Ecobank.
Boimah said, problems began when BEI sought to consolidate its loans.
A bank statement later showed a balance of US$342,000, and Ecobank subsequently claimed BEI owed US$351,164.
On attachment 07, BEI said, Ecobank created a “restructured” loan of US$156,918.05 for the same equipment, plus a separate US$73,000 loan also listed for purchasing a cement mixer, and batch plant.
“If the US$140,000 loan was for the equipment, what was the purpose of the US$73,000 loan? If the US$156,918.05 was a ‘restructuring,’ why was the original loan not extinguished?” the statement asked.
BEI described it as “double, and triple posting of debt to manufacture a fraudulent obligation.”
Missing Check and Alleged Asset Proposal
BEI also raised a US$10,000 advance from the Ministry of Public Works issued as Check #725079 to “Tropical Reserve Entrepreneurial Enterprise” [TREE], owned by Cllr. Peter Amos George.
The check was cleared on September 24, 2008, but BEI said the equipment was never delivered. Repeated requests to then-Ecobank MD Kola Adeleke for a copy of the check were denied, the firm noted.
Boimah further alleged that Adeleke proposed meeting at a used car lot on Capitol Bye to transfer the batch plant to SSF, a foreign-owned firm, to settle BEI’s obligations. BEI said it rejected the proposal.
CBL “Willful Blindness” BEI said it wrote CBL between 2013 and 2014, including to then-Governor Dr. Mills Jones on May 23, 2013, and to the Supervision Unit headed by Musa A. Kamara. The company received no action. When BEI sued CBL, the bank responded it had “no knowledge to form a belief as to the truthfulness” of the claims, despite the prior letters.
“The CBL had the power to compel Ecobank to provide proof of the alleged debt. It did not. The CBL is not an independent regulator. It is a captive institution,” the statement indicated.
