PRESS STATEMENT ON DEADLINE OF ASSETS DECLARATION
DELIVERED BY MR. ERNEST HUGHES
EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRPERSON
(ACTING EXECUTIVE CHAIRPERSON)
LIBERIA ANTI-CORRUPTION (LACC)
Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Monrovia, Liberia – The Board of Commissioners (BoC) of the Liberia Anti-Corruption (LACC) is pleased to report that government officials, governed by Liberia’s Code of Conduct are responding overwhelmingly to the Commission’s mandate to disclose assets and other financial information. As at the December 12, 2023, deadline, LACC has received close to 100 declarations from government officials across Ministries, Agencies and Commissions.
The deadline for government officials to declare assets and other financial information expired on Tuesday, December 12, 2023. However, we are made aware that several government officials are currently away from the country on official business and have been unable to declare their assets or other financial information. Given that Liberia’s current declaration system does not support remote declarations, i.e. a declarant must come in person to our offices, we encourage those officials away on official duties to come to LACC and comply immediately on their return. This is not an extension of the deadline, rather an opportunity to provide those government officials an opportunity to comply.
Next Steps:
The LACC is currently compiling a list of compliant and non-compliant government officials. Beginning next week, the LACC will publish listings of compliant and non-compliant government officials. LACC will follow a stagger approach and will publish the listing as follows: Ministries, Autonomous Agencies and Commissions, then Judiciary and Legislature branches, and finally the Executive branch of government.
The LACC applauds all government officials complying with this mandate. We encourage government officials that have not done so to file a financial asset disclosure as soon as possible.
Kindly visit the LACC office in Congo Town to pick up the forms or visit the LACC website at www.lacc.gov.lr to download a form.
Additionally, you may contact Patricia Barnaby at pbarnaby@lacc.gov.lr or at 0886498725 to collect forms or obtain more information on the declaration process.
LACC wishes to draw the general public’s attention to the following excerpts culled from the 2022 LACC Amended and Restated Act:
Part V Functions of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission:
Section 5.1
The Commission shall have the broad mandate and functions to implement appropriate measures and undertake programs geared towards investigating, prosecuting, combatting, and preventing acts of corruption, including educating the public about the ills of corruption and the benefits of its eradication.
Section 5.2
Without limiting the generality of Section 5.1 above, the Commission shall have the following specific functions:
O. To institute and operate the assets declaration and verification regime of the Government of Liberia, pursuant to the Code of Conduct Act of 2014. In performance of this function, the Commission has the authority to:
i. receive and maintain the declaration of income, assets and liabilities submitted by public officials;
ii. verify the accuracy of such declarations;
iii. allow or deny access to such declarations upon application to the Commission, subject to the condition that the Commission shall make disclosure of a person’s declaration only where the Commission is satisfied that such disclosure is in the interest of the general public or where such disclosure is mandated/required by a court order;
iv. develop asset declaration guidelines and forms;
v. issue rules for the administration of the asset declaration and verification regime as it deems necessary for the effective implementation of this Act and the Code of Conduct Act of 2014;
vi. Recommend to the Legislature for enactment into law sanction(s) for breach of the asset declaration guideline
This is in response to questions related to publishing publicly asset declaration information.