The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Justice will Monday October 19 conduct autopsies on the remains of the four Liberian auditors who died under suspicious circumstances.
The postmortem examination, according to Liberia’s information Ministry release, is aimed at establishing the cause of deaths of the deceased, whose passing has given rise to public concern.
The deceased, Albert Peters, a former Internal Auditor of the Liberia Revenue Authority; Victoria Asmah ‘Gifty’ Lamah, Manager of the Tax Payer Services Division, Liberia Revenue Authority; George B. Fahnboto, Revenue Auditor, Liberia Revenue Authority; and the Director General of the Internal Audit Agency, Emmanuel Barten Nyeswua, all died within a period of 8 days.
“The process is expected to commence at 6 Am EST(10am local time)”, the release added.
Rrepresentatives of the Families, the Press Union of Liberia, the Inter-Religious Council and Civil Society organizations have been invited to witness the autopsies, which will be carried out by Dr. Benedict B. Kolee and Dr. Zoebon B. Kpadeh at the St. Moses Funeral Parlor. Both pathologists were trained by UNDP and internationally certified,” the release further noted.
Albert Peters’ and Victoria Lamah’s lifeless bodies were found on October 2, 2020, on Broad Streets in a parked vehicle belonging to Peters, in front of the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Eyewitness accounts indicate that the vehicles were brought to the scene and parked on the early morning of Friday, October 2, “by a huge man, wearing a cap”.
Both Peters and Lamah were discovered in the back seat of his vehicle.
He was seen only in his underwear with one ear cut off and skin peeled off his body, according to his wife, while Lamah was discovered fully clothed, with even her makeup intact and with a broken neck.
The pair were separately married; Albert Peters had Beatrice Andrews Peters as his wife while Victoria Asmah Lamah was married to Sylvester Saye Lamah.
George F. Fanhboto reportedly died in a car accident, having lost control of his steering wheel on the 72nd Boulevard and hit a pedestrian before the car landed in the Roland Duo compound.
Though this information is not yet verified, it has been alleged by talk show host Henry Costa that Fahnboto was chased by men on motorbikes with machetes. One of them opened the driver’s door and gushed the LRA employee on his head, leading him to lose control of the steering wheel.
As for Nyeswa, who was the third auditor and the fourth financial professional to die in 8 days, he reportedly suffered from a mysterious fall from a narrow doorway on the top floor of his home along the SKD Boulevard.
The government in the release has also availed the families of the deceased the option of bringing on board pathologists of their choosing.
This message has been reiterated by the authorities in the various meetings with family members, the release said.
According to MICAT, “Liberian investigators have begun working with their American counterparts following an appeal by the Liberian government for U.S. assistance. President George M. Weah last week requested Liberia’s International Partners to help with the investigations as a means of ensuring an open and credible process.”
Many believe that the four were killed in an attempt to destroy evidence that these financial experts might have found to be undermining the country’s Domestic Resource Mobilization efforts.
‘Distrust’
Families of the deceased auditors have since express fear that government hired pathogists will not be fair since in fact, government chief spokesman has earlier said those individuals were not auditors.
Information Minister Legerhood Rennie recently told the BBC that the government is concerned with the deaths of the four, but ruled out that they were auditors.
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