Local

Monrovia – October 15, 2020

Members of the Liberia Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (Chapter #198) say they are deeply shocked by the mysterious deaths of two of its members, Hon. Emmanuel B. Nyeswa, Director General/Internal Audit Agency (IAA); and Mr. Albert K. Peters and another professional individual, Mrs. Gifty Asmah Lama both of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA).

In a statement that ACFE Liberia Chapter stated “We are extremely concerned and worried about the mysterious deaths of our two members and that of Albert’s workmate, Mrs. Lama, as well as the fear that has beclouded fellow professionals due to their unexplained deaths.” 

The Nation’s anti-fraud organization condemns such unexplained deaths and therefore called on the Government of Liberia (GOL) to move swiftly in conducting an independent, fair, transparent and speedy forensic investigation. The organization looks forward to seeing a logical conclusion in these recent incidents as anything short of a clear resolution could challenge Liberia’s integrity as a peaceful country.

ACFE Liberia Chapter has indicated that Hon. Emmanuel B. Nyeswa and Mr. Albert K. Peters were Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs); devoted, dedicated, committed professional public sector auditors with vast experience in the upliftment of the profession.

The Liberia Chapter-ACFE say it is calling on all of its members to remain calm as the GOL carry out thorough and speedy forensic investigations into the mysterious deaths of our professional colleagues.

 “Our prayers are with the wives, husband, children and other members of the bereaved families and that God will continue to strengthen them in these times of their bereavements”, the group stated

The Liberia Chapter-ACFE is Liberia’s largest premier body of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) with unique skills in fraud prevention, detection, and deterrence, including tracing illicit transactions to reduce the incidence of fraud and white-collar crimes. CFEs are a team of auditors, law enforcers, bankers, attorneys, accountants, security experts, detectives, investigators, etc.

Monrovia – May 19, 2020

As a means of supporting the government efforts towards the fight against the deadly Coronavirus that is ravishing the lives of Liberians and others globally, the Liberia Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE, Chapter # 198) has donated some food and non-food items to the Ministry of Health for onward distribution to front-line fighters- health workers.

The donation was done on May 13, 2020 at the Ministry of Heath, Congo Town, Paynesville, where officials of the Ministry of Health, guests and the leadership and members of the Liberia Chapter-ACFE were in attendance.

Presenting the items, the President of the Liberia Chapter-ACFE, Atty. Augustine G. Chenoway revealed that the items included:  30 bags of 25kg rice, 15 pieces of buckets, 3 cartoons of tie soap, 2 cartoons of alcohol and 1 cartoon of sanitizer.

Atty. Chenoway disclosed that the monetary value of the entire donation worth two hundred thousand (L$200,000) Liberian dollars.

He further said that this was the local Chapter way of giving back to humanity by and through the Ministry of Health to encourage front-line fighters and health workers to enforce the fight against the spread of the COVID -19 pandemic so that it does not continue to claim the lives of scores of Liberians as was done in 2014 during the EBOLA crisis.

He also disclosed that the funds were collected through voluntary contributions from members as an indication of patriotism and love-for-country.

He used the occasion to extend thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Health family and all health workers in the country who are exerting tremendous efforts to eliminate the virus. He further used the opportunity to encourage all Liberians and residents in the Country to respect and observe all the various health measures and protocols provided by health authorities.

He concluded that the Liberia Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners was established in 2012 and it is a member of a global body, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) which is the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and Premier provider of anti-fraud training and education with global headquarters in the United States of America. The Mission of the ACFE is to reduce the incidence of fraud and white-collar crimes and to assist the membership in fraud detection and deterrence.

The Chapter comprises of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) from various professional backgrounds, including auditors, accountants, lawyers, and educators, and they are trained to identify the warming signs and red flags that indicate evidence of fraud and fraud risk.

For her part, the Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Health, Hon. Norwu Howard who received the donation on behalf of the government expressed gratitude to the leadership and members of the Liberia Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners for the kind donation.

She described the donation as remarkable and fantastic on the part of patriotic Liberians taking up their precious times to raise money from meager resources to support the fight against COVID-19.

She assured that the donation will reach the frontline health workers and other individuals struggling to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and will be used for the intended purpose.

Deputy Minister Howard further encouraged Liberians to be committed to fighting the deadly disease.

February 5, 2020 News (KMTV)

Monrovia- As Liberia continues to face challenges with the problem of fighting corruption and other fraud related issues, the Liberia Chapter–Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has embarked on a strong effort to have specialized expertise in fighting different types of fraud in order to have qualified people with diverse skills in combating fraud.

One of such initiatives to develop specialized skills in fighting fraud was a two-week intensive training in Forensic Data Analytics (FDA) for Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) which brought together Fraud examiners, auditors, investigators from several anti-graft institutions in Liberia.

The two-week training held at the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) in Congo Town brought together 30 CFEs from various anti-graft institutions in the public sector, including the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), the General Auditing Commission (GAC), the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).

The training targeted internal and external auditors, investigators, fraud practitioners, risk managers, Lawyers, Regulatory Compliance staff, amongst others. 

The two-week Data Analytics training was sponsored by the Legal Professional Anti-Corruption Program (LPAC) in Liberia supported by USAID. Key objectives of the training were: Conceptualize data analytics that can be used to detect fraud; Understand Fundamentals for Fraud and Corruption Risk Management; Know different tools to perform data analytics, Comprehend how to apply full data analytics process and methods; Be able to recognize Red Flags of fraud in data analytics; practice Data Analytics tests to detect fraud; and Analyze non-numeric data, such as text and timelines for signs of fraud.

At the end of the training, USAID Senior Advisor, Scott Collins told the participants that there is no investigation without evidence particularly in the area of corruption.

“This training is meant to make the work of auditors and investigators relevant. To provide you important skills you can use in your work. We are hoping that we can work together to form less formal focus groups. We want to also work to identify software to aid your work”, he said.

Mr. Collins expressed thanks to all who attended the training and said he hopes the knowledge acquired will help auditors and investigators in the performance of their work.

IAA Director General, Emmanuel B. Nyeswa also making remarks thanked the LPAC for organizing the training.

He said the IAA attaches importance to the training which led to the decision to host the training and also have many auditors from the IAA attend the training.

Mr. Nyeswa offered the facilities of the IAA to be used to host any equipment that will be provided to aid the work of auditors and investigators.

For his part, the President of the local Chapter, Atty. Augustine G. Chenoway challenged the CFEs that the training is meant to start the process of building specialized skills amongst CFEs and enhancing their capacity.

He admonished participants to go out and start to share the knowledge acquired with other CFEs who did not have the opportunity to attend the training.

“Go out and teach others what we have learnt here over the last two weeks. This is not just a mere training, it is the start of having people with specialized skills so that we can combat fraud at all levels”, he said.

To jumpstart the process, the head of ACFE Liberia Chapter organized a team from each of the anti-graft institutions in the public sector to continue similar training within a core group and as well serve as liaisons at their various places of work to share the knowledge acquired with others.

He indicated that he hopes the training will add value to the work of CFEs.

He expressed thanks to LPAC for sponsoring the training and IAA for providing the facility.

Key objectives of the training were to Conceptualize data analytics that can be used to detect fraud; Understand Fundamentals for Fraud and Corruption Risk Management; Know different tools to perform data analytics, Comprehend how to apply full data analytics process and methods; Be able to recognize Red Flags of fraud in data analytics; practice Data Analytics tests to detect fraud; and Analyze non-numeric data, such as text and timelines for signs of fraud.

During the start of the intensive Data Analytics training about two weeks ago, Atty. Chenoway said that the discussion of the training started after an engagement with the Senior Anti-Corruption Advisor of LPAC, Mr. Scott Collins during the 2018 CPE conference that was held at the Liberia Chamber of Commerce.

The discussion, he said was further elevated during an anti-money laundering training that was being conducted by the LACC at the Bella Casa Hotel in Sinkor.

During the discussion, he highlighted several important points to Scott which were not limited to raising the challenges currently being faced by auditors in analyzing data and including the usage of advance excel techniques and other analytics software.

He however encouraged participants to be focused and they should consider the training seriously to further enhance their capacity in forensic data analytics to continuously identify the warning signs and red flags that revealed evidence of fraud and corruption.

For his part, the Director General of the Internal Audit Agency, Mr. Nyeswa challenged participants to take advantage of the training opportunity in order to enhance their analytical skills.

Mr. Nyeswa, who is also a Certified Fraud Examiner, used the occasion to reaffirm the IAA’s commitment to capacity building as well as the availability of its training facilities free of charge whenever the need arises for the full development of audit professionals.

The IAA boss further emphasized the importance of technology in the performance of audit duties, stressing that audit professionals cannot perform their duties effectively in the absence of adequate technology.

In addition, the Chief of Party of the USAID’s Legal Professional Anti-Corruption Program (LPAC) Mr. John Furnari described the training as part of LPAC’s current activities aimed at supporting partner institutions to enable them operate sustainably and more efficiently.

Mr. Furnari challenged participants to embrace the training with utmost seriousness in order to improve their individual capacities, thereby strengthening the performance level of the various anti-graft institutions towards preventing, investigating and prosecuting corruption and its related activities.

According to the ACFE 2018 Report to the Nations, over US$3.7 trillion is lost to fraud globally each year. In so doing, the increasing demand for capacity building in Forensic Data Analytics to prevent, deter and investigate fraud cannot be over emphasized, whether within the public or private sector.

It is believed that organizations that undertake proactive data analysis techniques experience frauds that are 52% less costly and 58% shorter than organizations that do not monitor and analyze data for signs for fraud. Therefore, Forensic Data Analytics as process of transforming input data into useful information through proper analytic tools is relevant to all organization. Hence, the training is essential and focuses on data analysis techniques, fraud detection techniques, and collection of evidence which can stand as evidence in court of law.

Participants were provided advanced certificates after the training.