Suspended Ministers liable, Japanese expelled

Two Liberian deputy ministers have been found liable of smuggling rough diamonds in contravention of a United Nations ban. The two, who were probed by the government, were suspended last month to allow investigations. The News newspaper on Friday, reported a Justice Ministry statement as saying that the findings confirm liability of smuggling and economic sabotage against James Konuwa, Assistant Minister for Mines and Mulbah Willie, Deputy Minister for Operations in the Ministry of Lands and Mines. The suspension will remain pending further actions, the daily added. The statement also declared a Japanese national, Tatsunari Uchida, who was linked to the two assistant ministers, an "undesirable alien" and ordered him to leave the country. The Justice Ministry, it added, advised the Central Bank of Liberia to release all funds belonging to Uchida, in accordance with the applicable regulations on monetary transfer. Uchida was intercepted at Monrovia international airport carrying US $ 135,000 on 14 November and the money was deposited with the country's Central bank. Diplomatic sources contacted by IRIN in Monrovia had said it was not clear whether US $135,000 found in Uchida's briefcase were proceeds from previous sales or money he wanted to use to buy the diamonds. Sources at the National Bureau of Investigation were quoted by PANA as saying : "The deal was to engage in the purchase and export of Liberian rough diamonds in violation of the existing United Nations ban on the export of diamonds from Liberia". The UN Security Council imposed a ban on the export of Liberia's rough diamonds in May this year, after a panel of expert found out that the country was trading guns for diamonds with neighbouring Sierra Leone's rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).