Liberian minister ordered to repay embezzled funds
A government minister and close ally of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been ordered to repay 180,000 euros (262,000 dollars) he embezzled from state coffers, state auditors announced Wednesday.
They said Information Minister Laurence Bropleh amassed the money by pocketing the salaries of "ghost employees" of his department.
"Minister Bropleh was involved in fraudulent processing and payments of salaries and allowances to several ghost employees for his personal benefits," the auditors said in a report.
Bropleh, who was suspended by Sirleaf in September pending an investigation, "immensely interfered with financial transactions resulting in system failure and complete breakdown of internal control," the report said.
Sirleaf became Africa's first female head of state in 2005 elections pledging to make the fight against corruption in her war-ravaged country a top priority.
Bropleh dismissed the auditors' report as a "political document" in a press conference after its publication.
"The report is substandard, it is incompetent. This report is a political document; this report is a fraudulent document," he said.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
