Monrovia - The chairman of Liberia's ruling Unity Party was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a vast system of political bribery he allegedly orchestrated on behalf of a British mining firm.
Varney Sherman, often described as Liberia's best connected lawyer, was taken in by police after young party activists blockaded his home on Monday when officers attempted to raid it.
“He was arrested early this morning at his residence because he refused to cooperate with the taskforce set up by the president,” a security source told AFP.
Sherman was the Liberian legal fixer for London-based Sable Mining, co-founded by former England international cricketer Phil Edmonds, between 2010 and 2012.
The party chairman is accused of organising a vast system of patronage, channelling handouts to help win Sable iron ore concessions, and inserting favourable representatives to key posts with responsibility for licences and tenders.
Sherman has denied the allegations and has said he will refuse to co-operate with the taskforce set up by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has herself faced criticism for alleged nepotism and corruption.
Campaign group Global Witness, which first made the accusations earlier this month, said the bribes, alleged to have mostly been paid out by Sherman are thought to total $960 000 (860 000 euros).
Sherman looked unlikely to be the only scalp claimed by the task force on Wednesday, with police gathering outside the home of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Alex Tyler.
“The Speaker of the House will soon join him (Sherman) in court,” the source added.
Tyler recently resigned from the ruling party and is believed to have presidential ambitions.
He received $75 000 and subsequently “helped to get the Sable-friendly legislation through parliament”, the Global Witness report alleged, with changes that included relaxing laws on the tender process.
Sable Mining has said the report was based on “unreliable testimony” from former business partners.
Edmonds, who resigned as chairman of the firm in 2014, along with Andrew Groves, the current CEO, “strenuously deny any wrongdoing,” they said in a statement released after the report was published.
Sable has since refused to answer calls for comment by AFP.
AFP