MONROVIA (Reuters) – Liberia suspended its central bank governor on Tuesday after an audit found irregular loans to the government and unauthorised spending, the information minister and a spokesperson for the central bank said.
Liberia President Joseph Boakai commissioned an audit of three key government institutions, including the central bank, after taking office in January.
Jolue Aloysius Tarlue will be suspended indefinitely following the release last week of the General Auditing Commission’s report, which focused on the period from 2018 to 2023.
The report found “irregularities” within central bank lending to the government, including more than $80 million in apparently unauthorised financing for salary payments.
It also found irregularities in the way some contracts were awarded.
The report also noted that the bank’s management “exceeded approved expenditure limits” during the five-year period, and found that “the approved budget expenditure projections consistently surpassed revenue projections, indicating a pattern of deficit financing.”
Liberia ranks 145th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, an indicator of public sector graft.
In 2022, then President George Weah suspended three government officials who were sanctioned by the United States for what it said was their ongoing involvement in public corruption.
A central bank spokesperson said the governor “will comply with any investigative team that will be set up.”
(Reporting by Alphonso Toweh; Writing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Sandra Maler)
