Monrovia Liberia – President George Manneh Weah has with immediate effect dismissed the Deputy Managing Director of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, Mr. Bobby Brown.

Mr. Brown was dismissed for what the Executive Mansion called ‘gross negligence and fraudulent activities’.

His dismissal was part of key actions taken by the Liberian leader after he had earlier received the report of the Special Presidential Task Force set up to investigate the recent gasoline shortage on the Liberian Market.

The former Deputy Managing Director of the LPRC will now be investigated by the appropriate authorities and, if found guilty, will be prosecuted under the full weight of the law.

But it seems that he might not be the only head to roll at least for now because according to the Executive Mansion Statement, during the process of investigation, any other personnel found to be directly linked to illegality with regards to petroleum movements will face prompt administrative actions, and will also face prosecution under the law. 

President Weah has also suspended the licenses of all petroleum importers and they will be individually subjected to a performance-based review covering the period, January 2017 to January 2020.

The re-activation of all licenses will be done on a case-by-case basis, and those that do not meet performance and capacity requirements satisfactory to the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company will be subject to revocation.

These actions taken by the President followed a careful review and assessment of the findings and recommendations of the Report. It also came after discussions and consultations with other relevant officials and advisers.

Regarding other actions taken by the President on the importers, the Executive added “All petroleum importers who currently have payments for provisional lifting products still outstanding are hereby given 90 days to restitute the products, either in cash or in kind; and petroleum importers that willfully transferred products stored at their facilities are also given 90 days to restitute the products, either in cash or in kind”.

The Liberian Chief Executive has ordered the Ministry of Justice to place such importers in receivership until the products are recovered.

President Weah has since warned the Importers that failure to replenish the products within the specified time of 90 days will result in revocation of importers license and forfeiture of allocated storage facilities at the LPRC.

Meanwhile, the Government of Liberia wishes to assure petroleum importers that all products accepted into the storage facilities of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company will be protected from fraudulent and illegal manipulation, going forward.