We invite leaders of opposition political parties, civic society, and all well-meaning Liberians to join us in calling for the immediate dismissal of the following senior government officials: Nathaniel McGill, Bill Tweaway, and Sayma Syrenius Cephus. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned these Liberian government officials for their involvement in ongoing public corruption in Liberia under Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.

According to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) report, Nathaniel McGill is Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff to President George Weah. During his tenure in government, McGill has bribed business owners, received bribes from potential investors, and accepted kickbacks for steering contracts to companies in which he has an interest. 

The report further noted that McGill has manipulated public procurement processes to award multi-million dollar contracts to companies in which he has ownership, including by abusing emergency procurement processes to rig contract bids. McGill is credibly accused of involvement in a wide range of other corrupt schemes including soliciting bribes from government office seekers and misappropriating government assets for his gain. He has used government funds allocated to other Liberian government institutions to run his projects, made off-the-books payments in cash to senior government leaders, and organized warlords to threaten political rivals. 

Additionally, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also reported that McGill has received an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered. McGill regularly distributes thousands of dollars in undocumented cash to other government officials for government and non-government activities.

McGill has been designated as being a foreign person who is a current government official who is responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts, or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.

A few days before the United States sanctioned him, a video of Mr. McGill surfaced on Facebook, where he proudly justified stealing public funds. In his statement during a town hall meeting in Bong County, McGill said, “Even if I was stealing the money and giving it to the Liberian people, da good thing I was doing—because at least I am not stealing it and carrying it to Europe.” Minister Mcgill’s statement was not only ignorant, but it was also reprehensible. He should be ashamed of himself, for glorifying corruption publicly! 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned Sayma Syrenius Cephus, the current Solicitor General and Chief Prosecutor of Liberia. According to The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) report, Cephus has developed close relationships with suspects of criminal investigations and has received bribes from individuals in exchange for having their cases dropped. 

As noted in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Mr. Cephus has worked behind the scenes to establish arrangements with subjects of money laundering investigations to cease investigations to personally benefit financially. He shields money launderers and helps clear them through the court system and has intimidated other prosecutors in an attempt to quash investigations. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reported that Cephus has also utilized his position to hinder investigations and block the prosecution of corruption cases involving members of the government. Cephus has been accused of tampering with and purposefully withholding evidence in cases involving members of opposition political parties to ensure conviction.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Cephus is being designated for being a foreign person who is a current government official who is responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.

Lastly, the United States government sanctioned Bill Twehway (Twehway), the current Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA). According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) report, Mr. Twehway orchestrated the diversion of $1.5 million in vessel storage fee funds from the NPA into a private account. Twehway secretly formed a private company to which, through his position at the NPA, he later unilaterally awarded a contract for loading and unloading cargo at the Port of Buchanan. The contract was awarded to the company less than a month after its founding. Twehway and others used family members to obfuscate their involvement in the company while still benefitting financially from the company.

Twehway was designated as a foreign person who is a current government official who is responsible for or complicit in or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery. 

Please sign this petition calling on President Weah to immediately dismiss these corrupt officials. A lack of accountability undermines the rule of law and emboldens official corruption.