Liberia: Report Alleged Deweh Gray, Ex-Minister Findley, Fahnbulleh & Others Were In Charge Of The 27,750 Liberian Passports Found At The NPA Warehouse

SmartnewsliberiaSept 10, 2021Read original

Cllr. Deweh Gray, Deputy Minister for Legal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

– Cllr. Deweh Gray, Ex-Minister Gbehzohngar Findley, Henry B. Fahnbulleh and others according to an investigative report alleged were positioned to continue with the Express Service by making sure all ordinary passports were processed for a fee of $100.00 United States Dollars (USD) including the 111 boxes of ordinary blank booklets/passports, totaling 27,750 that were found at the National Port Authority warehouse.

Deputy Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Henry Fahnbulleh

On September 3, 2021, Ajyei Bonsu, Alexander Nyeneken, Abdulazeez Raheem, Lincoln Bazman along with Freelance Investigative Reporters Becktor Williams & Victor Allen published on the

with the headlines titled:

indicatingthat thetransaction of 27,750 at an Express Service fee of US$100 each, will generate a total amount of US$ 2,775,000 (Two Million Seven Hundred and Seventy-five Thousand United States Dollars). According to the previous reporting and confirmed by people familiar with the story, “whenever a passport is sold for a fee of $100.00 USD, it is expected that OeSD (An Australian based company that Buck Press worked with to manufacture the passports for the Government of Liberia) collects $25.00 USD but in actuality, OeSD receives $18.00 USD per passport booklet and $7.00 USD per passport booklet goes to various parties (i.e. Ex-Minister Gbehzohngar Findley, Deweh Gray, Charles Boakye, and others) of the illegal deal. From the remaining $75.00 USD, the government gets her regular $15.00 USD.

According to journalists’ report, the balance $60.00 USD on each passport booklet with no accountability, has gone somewhere else – and that the amount is yet to be accounted for.” The privileged passports (I.e., Official, Diplomatic & Service) are even sold for US$25,000 or more according to people’s knowledge of the story.

They further indicated that Deweh Gray, Ex-Minister Findley, Henry B. Fahnbulleh & others aborted or paused further movements of these 33,500 illegal or smuggled passports/ booklets due to the presence and/or actions of Hon. Kemayah, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs. According to reports, Minister Kemayah renegotiated the contract with Buck Press, which Deweh Gray and Ex-Minister Gbehzohngar Findley had attempted to cancel but failed.

The journalists’ report narrated that both Deweh Gray and Ex-Minister Findley paused Buck Press’ operations in Liberia and deemed it a “Bad Deal” as reported on July 22, 2019, in FrontPage Africa, captioned: “Liberia Poised to Cancel Bad Deal with Ghanaian Firm, Milking Country Over Biometric Passports.” This announcement by Ex-Minister Findley was all part of their plan to get Buck Press and Former Director Wonplo out of the way so that they (Deweh Gray, Ex-Minister Findley and others) can continue smuggling more passports into country with the help of Mr. Charles K. Boakye (formerly of Buck Press) for their personal financial gain according to sources with knowledge of the story.

According to them, at the time of renegotiation of the contract with Buck Press, Mr. Kemayah (the new Minister of Foreign Affairs) received information of the inventory of blank passports currently in store according to sources familiar with the story.

Former Minister of Foriegn Affairs, Gbehzohngar Milton Findley

At this juncture, the journalist’s report said that the last batch of the “smuggled Passports” was still in transit to Liberia. And any attempt on the part of Ms. Deweh Gray, Ex-Minister Gbehzohngar Milton Findley, and Deputy Minister Henry B. Fahnbulleh to inform Minister Kemayah of the passports would have required them to explain the nature of the transactions regarding the passports, which will ultimately implicate them and further authenticate Former Passport Director Wonplo’s testimony of their nefarious dealings according to people familiar with the story. This was a risk they did not want to take.

They stressed through the publication that it is very important to reiterate that, neither Deweh Gray nor Ex-Minister Gbehzohngar Milton Findley and Henry B. Fahnbulleh informed Minister Kemayah of the 33,500 smuggled passports found at the warehouse of the NPA according to people with knowledge of the story. It is also worth noting that based on the renegotiated contract, Buck Press was now clothed with the legal authority and/or with the full backing of Minister Kemayah to begin operations. This was now clear to Team Deweh (Deweh Gray, Ex-Minister Gbehzohngar Findley, and Henry B. Fahnbulleh) that the smuggled passports cannot be introduced into the system.

“Consequent of the above, those individuals (Deweh Gray, Gbehzohngar Findley, Henry B. Fahnbulleh, Charles K. Boakye and others) who were very instrumental in the acquisition and subsequent smuggling of the passports to Liberia are denying link to the blank booklets/passports and have been fighting to keep the information secret and looking for every opportunity to physically destroyed the passports. The passports in question are still believed to be in the hands of NSA Director Pearson,” they indicated in the publication.

And that Deweh Gray, Findley, and their close confidants are spending money on the matter to keep the issues and evidence under wraps. With the passports now in the possession of NSA Director Pearson, what next?

The publication further narrated that Mr. Charles Boakye (Formerly of Buck Press) claimed that the Foreign Ministry through Deweh Gray made the request, which was also reported in the last publication of October 29, 2020, but Team Gray (Deweh Gray, Henry Fahnbulleh and Findley) continued to deny and are doing everything in their power to conceal the matter, especially since Minister Kemayah was misled or never informed of the smuggled passports by Team Gray according to sources.

Deweh Gray and her team did not come around to inform Minister Kemayah because he (Minister Kemayah) usually claimed that Deputy Minister Fahnbulleh did not provide any turnover documents to him (Minister Kemayah) when he assumed leadership of the Foreign Ministry according to a source with knowledge of the story. Is this statement by Minister Kemayah a means to avoid addressing key issues confronting the ministry or regarding the passport scandal?

Now, it is apparent according to a source with knowledge of the story, if Minister Kemayah was informed of the smuggled passports, it would have been a disaster for Team Gray and further authenticate Former Passport Director, Andrew D. Wonplo’s claim that he was set up to take the fall because he (Former Passport Director Wonplo refused to go along with the reprehensible or criminal plan of Findley & Deweh Gray as was previously reported in October of 2020.

“Our team (Investigative Journalists & Freelance Investigative Reporters) on the Liberia Passport Saga-Gate are making every effort to arrange an interview with the Former Passport Director Wonplo or request of him to do an audio of his reaction to this new and damaging evidence found at the NPA. Meanwhile, it has been very difficult to contact or locate Mr. Wonplo,”.

As was stated in 2020, the investigation continues unabated.The Liberian ECOWAS Passport indeed remains one of the most important documents of Liberia, considering money laundering, trafficking, terrorism, etc., they indicated in the publication.

Therefore, they said, it is prudent and in the interest of the Liberian people, the security of Liberia and multiple countries which accept Liberia ECOWAS passports, mainly the United States of America, to call upon the Weah led the government to set up an independent body to investigate and resolve the Liberian passport scandal.