By Festus Poquie
President Joseph Boakai has ordered the Central Bank of Liberia and the Liberia Revenue Authority to identify individuals who are secretly holding on to the country’s 20% share in a digital payments company and place it under government’s control.
Boakai said in a cabinet meeting Monday that a certain investor with link to the firm told him in Accra, Ghana that the mobile Money company subunit in Liberia has 20% share while more than 20% belongs to the people of Liberia.
The local subsidiary refusal to relinquish or make fair disclosure about the share in question has created discord with parent owners who are keen on transparency, the President said.
“They believe that the other 20% has been given to people they cannot identify.
“I have a feeling that if 20% was given to individuals, that should not be a corporate issue. We should decide who that goes to. Those resources are for this government. It should come to government and the government will use it for the purpose of the country.”
President Boakai has vowed to take the matter to a greater length should the company resist to relinquish the share or identify people who are beneficiaries.
Following US aid cut, Liberian authorities are pursuing aggressive domestic revenue mobilization plan to finance government’s projects and programs.
While the President was not specific about the company that is helping itself to stakes belonging the country, in January 2024 Central Bank of Liberia sanctioned the West African nation’s largest Mobile Money operator, Sparking Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing concerns linked to a hidden 20% share.
Lonestar Cell MTN Mobile, a subsidiary of South African telecom giant MTN Group was penalized by the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) for multiple regulatory infractions.
These breaches borders to Central Bank regulations designed to fight money laundering and terrorism financing.
According to a statement, the financial regulator imposed a substantial fine on the company, citing continuous violations of mobile money regulations and failing to meet the minimum corporate governance standards.
In a letter addressed to Rahul De, the company’s managing director, CBL noted that the company was being fined because of “continuous violations of CBL’s mobile money regulations and failure to conform to the minimum corporate governance requirements by the CBL.”
In response to the fine and directives, the CEO wrote to the CBL and appealed that the fine be waived. In another letter, the CBL rejected the appeal and reaffirmed its directives that the fine be paid immediately and that the company comply with the CBL regulations.
The CBL further stated that since MTN Mobile Money became operational, it had continuously violated the CBL regulations.
“The violation is traced to the entity’s failure to establish a separate board of directors and to also submit the full list of shareholders and all necessary documents relating to the shareholding structure of the entity, including share certificates, MTN board resolution, and details of the selection and transfer of the 20 percent share,” according to the letter issued by the CBL to De.
While sources close to CBL confirmed that the fine had been paid, it was revealed that the company had still not complied with the CBL regulations. In the second letter, the regulator warned MTN Mobile Money that further failure to comply with the timelines could result in the imposition of additional penalties.
In late April this year, MTN Mobile Money was again fined for breaching anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism rules.
Liberia’s Financial Intelligence Agency fined digital payments giant Lonestar Cell MTN Mobile Money Inc (LCMMMI) LRD 25 million (USD 125,000) for failing to comply with the country’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) rules and controls. The financial penalty was announced on 28 April.
