Star guest post: Liberian Ethelbert Cooper, a front for the Chinese, now effectively controls Gasol plc
Ciccio sent this in today. I strongly recommend that my colleagues in the newsrooms of independent news organisations read it and investigate further. These issues, and not ice buckets or various other deliberate distractions, are the real stories.
———–
Over the past several months, I have posted here on this website several comments about Gasol plc, asking questions and trying to find answers about who really owns, controls and finances what is in effect a shell company.
The matter is intriguing. A company which has no track record, no established business of its own, and no wealth at its disposal, sells itself as a project leader in a multi-billion-euro 18-year power station contract with the government of Malta, involving Azerbaijan state and Maltese private interests.
That sort of thing is normally unheard of, especially given that Malta will be dependent on that power station when it eventually materialises (where is it?). The risk is considerable.
That there are hidden interests somewhere therefore must be taken as given. The Maltese newspapers (or one of them at least) have not gone beyond giving us the clearly planted story that “energy top gun” and former Nigerian Petroleum Minister and OPEC Secretary General, Rilwanu Lukman, was appointed Gasol’s chairman. He died a few months later and the same newspaper did not report his death or the fact that he was, obviously, no longer chairman.
Similarly, those newspaper/s reported – and again the information was probably fed to them – that Gasol was listed on the London Stock Exchange alternative list. But when Gasol sought to withdraw its listing, and eventually did so – which removes it from public scrutiny and the corporate governance controls of listed companies – the information was published on this website and not by those same newspaper/s.
Gasol plc is controlled by the African Gas Development Company Limited, registered in the Seychelles. This company is in turn controlled by Ethelbert J. L. Cooper, a Liberian who also holds a US passport, and who has an address at 16 The Quadrangle, Chelsea Harbour, London.
He appears to be involved in reputation-enhancing donor projects, including Harvard University’s new Hutchins Centre, but his published bios have major information gaps which give rise to questions.
On 31 July, some international media published a story about “unauthorised payments” (the word “corruption” was used in some reports) by another company set up by Mr. Cooper, Afren plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange main list. The CEO and COO were suspended immediately (Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah) and the share price fell by 30%.
This story continues to unfold because investigations are ongoing, and this week another two directors were suspended.
The Maltese media have a story here which they should pursue in the public interest, but they are either deliberately ignoring it or allowing themselves to be distracted from it by other, minor matters.
The Maltese public should know, even if out of curiosity, who is in charge of 30% of the Marsaxlokk power station project, who will be financing it, and why. If there are hidden interests, the newspapers should uncover them and expose them, and investigate further if necessary. Knowing all this could open the potential for further stories.
This sort of story is reported on and researched extensively by the British media. The Guardian has published a series of articles about UK companies controlled in tax havens like The Seychelles. The Sunday Times (London) has investigated Afren’s “blow out” and has published a highly revealing report about Ethelbert Cooper and his strategies: ‘Sweetheart deals’ sour Guinea’s plan for mining, published on 22 July 2012.
The pieces of evidence in this Gasol plc jigsaw puzzle are coming together now. Mr. Cooper and his companies are well connected to the Chinese government, with which they conduct “strategic partnerships” – a term quoted by The Sunday Times (London) and which has become part of Joseph Muscat’s political vocabulary here in Malta.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cooper acts as Gasol’s ‘strategic advisor’, while he hides his majority ownership of that company behind African Gas Development Co Ltd through the secretive jurisdiction of The Seychelles.
The Sunday Times article I mention here is a must-read for Maltese journalists and interested members of the public/business in Malta. It is important to be informed. It reveals that Mr. Cooper’s companies are just shell companies and that cash comes from Chinese connections. We had suspected this all along in the case of Gasol plc and our own embryonic power station.
It appears that Ethelbert Cooper and his shell companies are no more than a front for the Chinese government as it operates abusively in resource-rich African regions and plunders them. The Sunday Times actually called Mr. Cooper’s companies a “go-between for the Chinese”.
The Sunday Times reports on how the deals caused outrage even in an African third-world country.
The deals caused outrage. Condé’s political rivals accused his administration of giving away a hugely valuable piece of infrastructure to AIOG.
But in Malta people are compliant and complacent, drugged into a stupor by idiocy, minor distractions and chants of Taghna Lkoll. No questions are being asked even by journalists, let alone members of the public or business associations.
The essential message here is how, despite Malta being an EU member state, the relative ease with which China has been able to ‘buy’ the Malta Labour Party and, consequently, the government of Malta, means that China now equates Malta with an African third-world state.
By now (thanks to this website) everyone knows about Shiv Nair – China’s “secret weapon in Africa” – and how he was Joseph Muscat’s consultant until the news broke (again on this website) that he is blacklisted permanently by the World Bank for corrupt dealings. Despite the prime minister’s denials, he is almost certainly still advising him.
It is becoming harder for Dr. Muscat to rebut any claim that Mr. Nair was involved in the Gasol deal.
The Sunday Times article is an eye-opener on the methods deployed by China in Africa, with rampant abuse of natural resources and labourers. It paints a picture akin to that of 16th-century European colonial powers plundering South American gold mines through the abuse of indigenous slave labour and exploitation. But this is the 21st century. China uses the resources-for-infrastructure model – ‘we will build a bridge or railway for you, and you will give us access to your resources’ – which already sounds familiar in its dealings with Malta.
Another point made in the article is the obvious one that Western business is scared away from countries which conduct corrupt deals. The Eur3 billion drop in foreign direct investment in Malta over the past year must also be considered partly in this light.
This information raises serious doubts about the Gasol deal, or adds to them as doubts existed already. It is hard not to believe that it is a corrupt deal, particularly given that all information available indicates that the deal was struck before the last general election and not afterwards.
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The Sunday Times article is linked below for those with a subscription:
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Industry/article1085835.ece
A transcript of the article is available on this link for non-subscribers (scroll down below the article in French):
http://www.radio-kankan.com/Nouvelles-Radio-KanKan.161.0.html?&cHash=8a63007916&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11463
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/08/gasol-plc-founded-and-majority-owned-by-a-serial-liberian-entrepreneur/
A huge well done, Ciccio. Thank you for all the effort.
What will be his excuse not to resign following the non-completion of the power plant in time?
Rest assured that the excuse had been thought of before he actually made the promise. That was the real roadmap.
Now I do understand Joseph Muscat’s insistence on a roadmap.
One does need a roadmap when the road from Malta to China starts with a detour to London, a U-turn to Nigeria, intersects at the Seychelles, takes a roundabout turn at Liberia and goes to Beijing via God-knows how many other offshore tunnels.
But remember, on Muscat’s roadmap, all roads lead to China.
Don’t lose heart, we might providentially receive a prefab power-station straight from the People’s Republic.
Thank you ciccio; it spoils my Sunday a bit, but it’s an essential piece of analysis.
Resign? As if!
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-08-31/news/running-illegal-hotel-no-reason-to-resign-from-transport-malta-board-ministry-6401163265/
And how times change, Ciccio.
Libya’s in chaos, Tripoli and consequently Sirte’s terminals out of bounds, no African strategic pipeline there. Going East of Sfax means bypassing Malta altogether.
Putin’s about to close every gas valve this winter, no need to say what happens to prices or what it implies to Konrad’s 18 year supply deal.
And finally, the US intends to prevail with their shale gas technology, turning the market on its back. Fracking along Sicily’s southern coast the next big deal.
So Muscat thinks he can punch above his weight.
Jozef, all this points to “un fil unique de communication.”
Muscat one of the fronting pawns with an EU role.
NAIR
Time for Roadmap Version II?
The problem is, Daphne, that the Times of Malta journalist won’t know on which one of the four doors to knock at Mr Cooper’s Chelsea Harbour address.
Times of Malta could seek a comment from The Financial Times seeing how Shiv Nair and one of its directors are so closely linked.
Times of Malta could also knock on the door of Shiv Nair’s registered address in London whilst there, this being: 135 Holland Park Road.
Who knows, they may even kill two birds with one stone by doing that.
Ariadne Massa should have nominated Shiv Nair and Ethelbert Cooper for the Ice Bucket Challenge. At least we could have got to see their face.
Oh if it’s just the face you want than that’s easy.
He’s one black man Maltese from the South don’t seem to complain about because not being honest and skint means he’s taghna ukoll.
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/ethelbert-cooper/39/239/692
Is it a coincidence or was it planned that Rilwanu Lukman, died on the same exact day that Gasol was to be delisted i.e. 21 july 2014?
Reminds one of Fusellu’s timed departure from this world…
http://www.gasolplc.com/media/19149/gasol_shareholder_circular_23_june_14_final.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilwanu_Lukman
Is it also a coincidence that within 10 days from Lukman’s death there was a discovery of “unauthorised payments” by two directors at Afren plc, followed by their suspension, and now the suspension of another two associate directors just this week?
I do not believe these were coincidences. I believe that there is a battle for power and control at the top.
In fact, Afren, which is one of the few credentials listed on Mr. Ethelbert J.L. Cooper’s bio on the website of the Harvard University’s Hutchins Centre, was founded by:
1. Ethelbert J.L.Cooper (Liberian)
2. Dr. Rilwanu Lukman (Nigerian)
3. Osman Shahenshah (Pakistani)
Actually, in this Telegraph article here, it says that Afren’s founders were Cooper and Shahenshah, but information on the internet varies on this and it seems that it was set up by all three above.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/7067148/Afren-the-UK-company-leading-the-hunt-for-Africas-oil.html
Interesting. So now:
1. Mr. Cooper’s cofounder of Gasol plc and Afren plc – who was serving as Chairman of Gasol and who served as Chairman of Afren in the past – is dead.
And:
2. Mr. Coopers’ cofounder of Afren plc – who was serving as Chief Executive Officer of Afren – is suspended from the board on allegations of corruption or “unauthorised payments” and according to The Sunday Times of London Afren might pursue him and others for “millions” of unauthorised payments.
Leaving Mr. Cooper in charge, and at large.
And I am to believe this is a coincidence.
Read also my comment here:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/07/the-libyan-writer-hisham-matars-excellent-article-for-the-new-yorker-today/
What is it with former OPEC heads and timed departures?
If it wasn’t for your blog we would be totally ignorant of all these facts. Thank you. I knew our country would go to the dogs under this government but I now actually think the repercussions are going to be so much worse.
‘Independent’ and ‘investigate’ are not positive so they do not feature in this new bully led era of ours.
Journalists are now similar to trophy wives: to be seen but not heard, simply to enhance status, their strings pulled by the master with not a hint of a brain but simply made to regurgitate what they are fed AND made very, very aware of how disposable they are.
As of Tuesday 26th August, just under one month before celebrating 50 years of our country’s independence, Malta is no longer an independent country.
As of last Tuesday, the Government of Malta lost all control or rather has sold over the generation of electrical power for the country’s needs to third parties. Enemalta corporation no longer exists.
The BWSC power plant is now owned by the Chinese government. The Azerbaijanis with Gasol and the Maltese private investors including Apap Bologna and Gasan amongst others will build the new power plant.
Then there’s the interconnector which will hook us up to the European grid, but once again will be power bought from a supplier. Malta as a country and successive Maltese governments will now effectively be held by the balls.
For all the ‘Malta l-ewwel u qabel Kollox’ cries of the party in government, this is truly a sad and worrying situation for all. Talking about responsible governance!
Today’s news of more suspensions at Afren
http://naija247news.com/2014/08/afren-suspends-ceo-3-others-probes-433-million-on-hybs/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=naija247new#.VAN475ocTIU
So now, this means that China controls/will control:
1. 30% (or slightly more) of Enemalta, the exclusive buyer of electricity for distribution into the Maltese market.
2. 100% of the BWSC powerstation, which will be converted to gas.
3. 30% of Electrogas, which means 30% of the new (Siemens?) gas powerstation.
But through the 30% in Electrogas, China will also control 30% of the LNG gas import, storage and regasification through the LNG tanker which will be planted in the middle of the populated Marsaxlokk Bay, and which will serve both powerstations. This includes the security of supply of LNG gas for Malta.
For if China were to have full control over the BWSC plant running on gas, but it did not have any control over the infrastructure which supplies the gas, China would be exposing its investment here to the dictat of the gas suppliers. Nice thinking, China.
Never preach to the converted who do not bow down and quote the Fabbrika tal Kancer instead of BWSC.
My admiration Ciccio for following mature political leaders and not toy boys.
Ciccio, please get in touch. I want to make you famous.
NAO tore at the BWSC contract with vengence. I expect nothing less in this contract awarded through an expression of interest. A corrupt government and its structures.
This week, Afren plc – a company whose founders included Ethelbert J.L. Cooper, Rilwanu Lukman and Osman Shahenshah – suspended another two associate directors in connection with an internal investigation being carried out by an independent firm of lawyers Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP.
http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2014/08/29/afren-suspends-associate-directors/
The investigation found “evidence” of “unauthorised payments” received for the benefit of the directors concerned. Sections of the foreign media referred to the payments as “corruption.”
On 31 July, the company had suspended two directors, including Mr. Shahenshah who is the company’s CEO. The other director was Mr. Shahid Ullah, COO.
The associate directors suspended this week are Iain Wright and Galib Virani.
Since 31 July, the share price of Afren has dropped by 30%.
The Sunday Times (London) of today 31 August reports that:
“Afren hunts millions in payments scandal”
“Oil explorer may go after suspended directors amid boardroom investigation”
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/article1453049.ece
Osman Shahenshah was a director of Gasol up to 2012. Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, who has not been mentioned in the investigation so far, was Chairman of Gasol and co-founder with Ethelbert J.L Cooper of African Gas Development Corporation Limited which controls Gasol. After Dr. Lukman’s death, Mr. Cooper is the majority owner of Gasol and its strategic advisor to the board (where he leads the company from the front-end).
Afren owns 14% in Gasol, and Gasol regards Afren as a major partner in its business strategy in West Africa.
“Gasol plc (“Gasol”) entered into a Cooperation Agreement in 2009 with Afren Plc (“Afren”) to develop the gas reserves in Afren’s fields. Afren will offer the gas supplies to Gasol on a first priority basis for gas projects. This activity is concentrated around Nigeria, which has substantial proven reserves of associated and non-associated gas, estimated at 182 trillion cubic feet (“tcf”) of high grade quality gas.”
http://www.gasolplc.com/media/18708/gasol_ar2013.pdf
In its Annual Report 2013, Gasol declares that it adopts zero-tolerance to bribery and corruption not only in its own business, but even “within the businesses of those we work with.”
http://www.gasolplc.com/media/18507/2013_accounts.pdf
Ciccio, mhux aħjar tmur tagħmel ġabra għal-partit fallut li żżomm miegħu minflok toqgħod tinħela tfettaq f’dawn iċ-ċuċati?
Simon tiegħek beża’ minn naqra ilma, u dam jaħsibha tgħidx kemm biex inħasel naqra,aħseb u ara kemm se joqgħod jieqaf għal dan il-gvern immexxi minn prim ministru hekk kariżmatiku!
Aħjar tara kif se tqumu miż-żewġ tkaxkiriet elettorali li qlajtu.
Malta tagħna lkoll, Viva Joseph u viva l-Lejber li dejjem ħaseb fil-ħaddiem mhux bħan-Nazzjonalisti! tiegħek.
[Daphne – I’d best point out that this is written in irony, before everyone pounces on you.]
Isn’t this what people are writing on Maltese newspapers’ comments boards?
I’ve read comments calling another person Pufta and insulting their probably dead mothers.
Discussion on MaltaToday
Farrugia Sacco’s retirement ‘a sad day’ for the judiciary – PN
Marlon Grech • 10 days ago
mur intefa il GZIRA P…. halli tghinhom jaqtaw id dejn il pieta u jhalsu li zaren .
Marlon Grech • 10 days ago
inharaq ja indannat …hekk niehdu pjacir .issa mur gahmel gabra ghal cafetterija ….kissirinjulkhom partit P….A
Marlon Grech • 10 days ago
bet you love french kissing asses (guys)
Marlon Grech • 10 days ago
tindahalx latrina
Marlon Grech • 10 days ago
mela bhal dak il barri missierek….u mhux imbilli tidher taht isem falz u ritratt falz ja P….
Marlon Grech • 10 days ago
jien nahseb ahjar tmur tghamel dak li thobb tghamel int (u ifhimni) u tghati il flus ghal pieta cafetterija
Marlon Grech • 10 days ago
u r a homo .
‘Notwithstanding the scathing indictment, by the TRC, of all “Governments of the Republic of Liberia from 1847 especially from 1979 to 2003,” the TRC failed and/or refused to adjudge all heads of the Governments of Liberia and armed groups during the relevant period guilty of committing the enumerated crimes; or to recommend all such persons for prosecution or public sanctions, but rather selectively, disparately, and discriminatorily recommended, for prosecution and/or public sanctions, Charles G. Taylor, leader of the NPFL, former President of Liberia and former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia; Prince Y. Johnson, leader of INPFL; the late Roosevelt Johnson, leader of ULIMO & ULIMO-J; Alhaji G.V. Kromah, leader of ULIMO & ULIMO-K; George Boley, leader of LPC; Thomas Yaya Nimely, leader of MODEL; Sekou Damante Konneh, leader of LURD; and the late Francois Massaquoi, leader of LDF. The TRC also recommended for prosecution or public sanctions, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Harry Yuan, Moses Z. Blah, Kabineh Ja’neh, Ignatius Clay, Grace Minor, Richard Flomo, Martina Johnson, Sando Johnson, Clarence L. Simpson, Byron Tarr, Randall Cooper, Allen Brown, Sr., >> Ethelbert Cooper<<, Dew Mayson, Laveli Supuwood, Wilfred Clarke, Edward Massaquoi, Moses Jarbo, Charles Bennie, Edward Slanger, Tom Woewiyu, John T, Richardson, Isaac Nyenabo, and others too numerous to be named herein.'
http://www.theperspective.org/2012/0627201201.html
The CORRUPT plot thickens!
‘Culled from the South Africa Mail & Guardian Newspaper
Marion Edmonds
The principal director in Emanuel Shaw II’s fledgling consultancy, International Advisory Services (IAS), is working in South Africa illegally.
Home affairs officials confirmed this week that Ethelbert Cooper, a Liberian businessman linked to a number of Shaw’s questionable deals, is not supposed to be working in this country.
It is not clear how Cooper – who is also an associate of state oil chief Don Mkhwanazi – managed to get into the country, but officials say they will pursue him.
“If Mr Cooper is working in Sandton, he is doing so illegally and should the department be informed of his residential or business addresses the matter will be pursued further,” a home affairs representative said.
Cooper was unavailable for comment . The Mail & Guardian established this week that Mkhwanazi played a crucial role in getting Shaw and his family into South Africa, helping them evade the red tape which entangles less well-connected visitors.’
‘It is preposterous to compare Rand Merchant Bank and Shaw’s company, which was only created last year, and whose only other director is Ethelberg Cooper, a Liberian linked to Shaw’s scams in the West African country.’
‘AMCL was set up expressly for the deal and is run by a man called Ethelberg Cooper, who is a partner in Shaw’s International Advisory Services consultancy. AMCL took over the mine in 1989 and has yet to submit financial statements, despite receiving calls to do so by Liberia’s mines minister.’
http://www.fahnbulleh.net/?tag=/Emanuel-Shaw
‘Accompanied by Labour officials, the media was yesterday taken on a coach tour guided by Labour leader Alfred Sant in a bid to shed light on five salient cases of alleged corruption.
In this event, dubbed by MLP’s media office as “corruption tour”, Sant confirmed to MaltaToday that if the MLP is elected to power, he would be willing to take every possible action allowed by law’
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/03/05/n5.html
It seems that Sant’s ‘Corruption Tour’ has turned into a ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.
The ‘Road Map’ has become a tour puzzle, a labyrinth, complex maze of dubious activities run through equally dubious international characters through a confusing series of pathways with the sole intent of obscuring the truth and suppressing what is morally correct.
Bob, Here is the original article for your first link:
http://mg.co.za/article/1997-11-07-r3m-for-shady-liberian
It is an article from 1997 dealing with events of the 1990s – the real reason why Ethelbert J.L. Cooper’s bio as published on the website of the Harvard University’s Hutchins Centre refers only to some achievement of the early 1980s (which, without any doubt, will be examined later, exclusively, for this website) and then to his recent (2004) set-up of Afren plc – a company listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange and which is now embroiled in a major board corruption scandal which led to a drop of 38% (today’s market price versus 30 July’s) in its share value and to the suspension of two directors and two other associate directors, so far.
Soon Mr. Cooper will have to pull out from his bio any reference to Afren – which is now more of a negative than a positive, and that will leave him with only his ‘charitable’ credentials, which in my opinion, are dubious too.
The links of Ethelbert J.L. Cooper with Mr. Emanuel Shaw II and the Liberian government of the early 1990s should be enough reason to not touch anything Mr. Cooper is related to with a barge pole.
Now that we have all these facts in hand, it is not a surprise, then, that Gasol has no established business despite having been around for many years: who wants to deal with a company owned by someone connected to Liberia’s corrupt and violent governments of the 1990s?
I am very surprised that prominent Maltese businessmen have associated themselves with Mr. Cooper’s Gasol. Did they know who was behind that company?
On the other hand, I am not surprised at all that Joseph Muscat has been dealing with Gasol. Either his ‘due diligence’ team at the Auberge de Clownstille failed to pick up the real issues here – like they failed to highlight the permanent debarrment by the World Bank for corruption of his energy consultant Shiv Nair – or else he was following orders from above – I mean from the Great Hall of the People in Tienanmen Square.
Thanks a bunch, Ciccio.
It is getting more and more obvious that the guy is NOT squeaky clean and that’s putting it very mildly.
The fact that he is banned in holding Public Office in his own country (Liberia) speaks volumes about the man.
And still NO newspaper, In-Nazzjon included, has deemed it necessary to publish his full profile.
With an Opposition like that who needs a democracy?
Bob, thank you for copying above an extract from the conclusions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia.
For the benefit of younger readers, Liberia had two civil wars in the span of 10 years, both wars involving Charles Taylor.
Charles Taylor was a Liberian warlord who had received training as a guerilla fighter in Ghaddafi’s Libya in the 1980s. In 1989 he returned to Liberia, where he took the leadership of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) to start the civil war which overthrew the existing government. The NPFL was supported by Libya, which in the 1980s was a terrorist state.
Liberia has a population of just around 4 million, and 200,000 died in its civil wars. Liberia remains one of the poorest countries in Africa, with a short life expectancy, low average age and low per capita income.
“The guy is NOT squeaky clean” is a gross underestimation.
His problems stem mainly from his connections with the regime of Charles Taylor, which conducted huge atrocities in Liberia during the two civil wars. In 2012, the International Criminal Court of The Hague found Charles Taylor guilty of all 11 charges brought against him, which involved crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Why does the government of Joseph Muscat continue to associate Malta with the worst dictators and regimes?
A few factual corrections to my previous post:
1. Charles Taylor was processed by a Special Court for Sierra Leone, a court backed by the United Nations – not by the ICC. However, the hearing took place in The Hague. The charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity which were brought against Charles Taylor, and of which he was found guilty, are the same type of crimes addressed by the ICC.
2. Charles Taylor was processed and convicted for his involvement in the civil war of Sierra Leone, not those of Liberia. As a warlord, he had involved himself in the civil war of Sierra Leone, a neighbouring country of Liberia. He was never processed by an international court for the Liberian wars, but that does not mean that he was not involved in both Liberian civil wars. He also was Liberian President in between both wars.
3. Mr. Cooper is mentioned as one of the names associated with hineous crimes against Liberia in relation to his connections with the governments of Liberia, including that of Charles Taylor and his predecessor Samuel Doe. South African media had reported on Mr. Cooper’s close association with Emanuel Shaw II, who in turn was Minister of Finance of Liberia under Samuel Doe and close to Charles Taylor.
“*A leading Dutch newspaper, Parool, carried a prominent news story last Friday linking Shaw and Liberia’s current leader, Charles Taylor, to a notorious drug syndicate. The article claimed that in return for protecting the syndicate, the two politicians received a cut of its profits. Shaw is Liberia’s ambassador extraordinaire, economic adviser to President Taylor, and was recently appointed head of the country’s banking commission.”
http://mg.co.za/article/1997-12-19-his-main-occupation-was-stealing
Readers should refer also to bob-a-job’s links to articles where Mr. Cooper is linked to Shaw elsewhere under this post.
Liberia needs to setup a permanent criminal court
LIBERIANS BANNED FROM HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICE
3. Ethelbert Cooper
http://www.liberianlawyers.org/
‘Tista’ ma taqbilx magħna iżda tista’ taħdem magħna’ – Joseph Muscat
Bob, that list you refer to there is published by ALLA, so it deserves respect.
ALLA is the Association of Liberian Lawyers in the Americas Inc.
And it comes with a note – which you can see at the end of the artice you linked, or even in the one linked below:
http://focusonliberia.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/liberians-banned-from-holding-public-office/
“Because the following persons and individuals listed and named have committed some from of heinous crimes in the Liberia, members of the international community are asked to please refuse them entry and remove them from your coast if they are found to be residing there.
Thanks for supporting and upholding the rule of law and human rights.”
And what does Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi do? They award Mr. Cooper’s company with a multi-billion-Euro 18-year contract for power purchase and gas supply. Way to go for the upholding of rule of law and human rights.
I am only just waking up to the realisation that this must be the largest scandal of this government so far. It is an act of defiance of international law and an insult to African people and Liberians in particular.
correction: “…And what do Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi do?…”
Up to their necks in sleaze
Mkhwanazi gave Shaw and Shaw’s son, Emanuel Shaw III, the state job without tendering—a year after his own law firm set up the consultancy named in Shaw’s contract with the state oil company. The main listed director of that company, International Advisory Services, is Ethelbert Cooper, a Liberian associate of Shaw’s. Cooper, who is working in South Africa illegally, also advises Mkhwanazi on Mkhwanazi’s National Empowerment Trust Investment Fund.
It emerged this month that the two most eminent members of this investment fund’s executive—Oscar Dhlomo and Gibson Thula—resigned last year after Mkhwanazi spent a sizeable portion of the fund’s R5-million start-up cash on himself and on Cooper’s remuneration.
Full report
http://mg.co.za/article/1997-12-23-up-to-their-necks-in-sleaze
Another fund, another Liberian
Culled from the South African Mail & Guardian Newspaper
Two eminent businessmen resigned last year from an investment fund set up by Don Mkhwanazi after he paid himself and a Liberian consultant huge salaries and the fund’s first venture flopped.
With start-up funds of R5-million, Mkhwanazi proposed paying himself a one-off fee of R144 000 and a monthly salary of R45 000. He is also understood to have made handsome payments totalling at least R500 000 to his Liberian consultant, Ethelbert Cooper. Mkhwanazi also proposed that the fund pay for Cooper’s relocation to Durban.
http://www.fahnbulleh.net/?tag=/Corruption
One wonders whether newspaper reporters are being restricted from digging up this information by their respective newspapers.
Should this be the case and if journalists still carry a Fermion of pride in themselves, they should pool information to the internet anonymously.
But why is it that the Opposition never highlights these disgusting facts? A real disgrace. We only wake up when it’s way too late.
I just don’t want to imagine.
Our Shiv is a high-ranking PN official, by proxy.
According to a source for African Intelligence, as at the date of 3rd November 2011, Ethelbert Cooper held dual Liberian and American citizenship.
According to my intelligence, as of today 1 September 2014, he probably has Maltese citizenship.
And how about a Maltese citizenship.
I said above that:
“I am only just waking up to the realisation that this must be the largest scandal of this government so far. It is an act of defiance of international law and an insult to African people and Liberians in particular.”
So Mr. Cooper was an associate of Emanuel Shaw II, who was:
1. A Minister of Finance of Liberia under dictator Samuel Doe who came to power after conducting a military coup in 1980 and ruled up to 1990 after heavily rigging the presidential elections held in 1985. Samue Doe was assassinated and overthrown in 1990, one year after Charles Taylor initiated the first civil war.
2. An ambassador extraordinaire and confidante of convicted criminal Charles Taylor – a warlord who trained under Ghaddafi’s Libya in the 1980s when Libya was a terrorist state – who initiated the first civil war of Liberia in 1989 (against Doe) and who came down during the second civil war in 2003. With Charles Taylor, Emanuel Shaw was also involved in drug-trafficking cartels.
Surely I want to know now, not later, whether, if elected in 2018, the PN will be honouring the power purchase and gas supply deal of 18 years which the government of Malta is proposing (the government and The Times say that the government has signed it already, but Enemalta’s website contradicts them) to sign with a consortium involving Maltese businessmen and led by the Liberian Mr. Ethelbet J. L. Cooper.
The PN should make clear now that it will not honour any contracts with associates of: convicted criminals, warlords, drug-traffickers, thieves, fraudsters, crooks and dictators.
Sorry, am I pushing this a bit too far if I ask who mentioned the “xibka tal-hazen”?
From now on, I am going to appear in public wearing a T-shirt with the message: “I get my gas and power from Ethelbert J.L. Cooper, the friend of the criminal and corrupt Liberian regimes of the 1990s.”
Please don’t make idle threats. We all know you won’t be wearing anything of the sort.
After this story, I suggest that independent media journalists should start by giving a phone call to Mr. Barry Connor who owns the Seaview Beach villa in the Bahamas and ask him if he had ever met Mr. Ethelbert J.L. Cooper (or any of his colleagues on the boards of his companies and foundations) at his villa, perhaps accompanied by an EU Commissioner.
For here we have Mr. Cooper using his shell companies, including those in the Seychelles, to channel funds from other sources – but which originate in China. Effectively, Mr. Cooper is using his companies as a vehicle to move around sums of money. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Connor had mentioned that he had been asked if he could lend his trust fund for funds to be moved from the US to Africa.
Besides, Mr. Connor had mentioned also that he had overheard discussions about fuel efficient engines being sold in Africa – was this a discussion on powerstations?
On 1 May 2014, Gasol signed a “cooperation agreement” with China Machinery Engineering Corporation – a company which specialises in the construction of power projects in generation, transmission, and distribution. “Gasol … is interested in developing greenfield gas-fired power plants in markets where it supplies the gas.”
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11939594
Mr. Connor described the men meeting at his villa as “mostly American businessmen” and “Christian evangelicals” who discussed different business proposals, including “a lot of talk about brokering raw African gold and selling it in Europe.”
Mr. Cooper, who is African, has US citizenship and claims to be an expert in minerals.
The name of the Liberian Ethelbert Cooper keeps surfacing on internet sites, where his connections with wrongdoings against Liberia are revealed.
There are several open letters to current Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on the internet. One of the letters is dated 30 August 2005 and is written by Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu. See details about Woewiyu later in my post.
In the letter, Woewiyu reminds President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of her role in the Liberian civil wars.
The letter contains a reference to Ethelbert Cooper:
http://theliberiandialogue.org/2014/05/16/woewiyus-an-open-letter-to-madam-ellen-johnson-sirleaf/
“…While waiting for your arrival in the Ivory Coast, you called to say that the venue of the meeting had been changed to Banjul, The Gambia. I found out later that after I left, you had another meeting with some people including Randall Cooper who then represented the NPFL in the U.S. at the home of Ethelbert Cooper.”
This establishes a further connection between Ethelbert Cooper and the NPFL – the rebel group of Charles Taylor, which received arms assistance from Ghaddafi.
1. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
President Johnson-Sirleaf became the first woman to be elected head of state in Africa when she was elected President of Liberia in 2005. In 2006, she set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which investigated two decades of civil wars in Liberia.
In the 2009 final report, the TRC listed President Johnson-Sirleaf as one of 49 persons to be barred from holding public office in Liberia for her role in the civil wars.
President Johnson-Sirleaf subsequently apologised to the people of Liberia for her involvement with Charles Taylor, and eventually, in 2011, together with another two women, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
However, President Johnson-Sirleaf continues to face serious criticism – including calls for her arrest and prosecution for her role in Liberia’s civil wars – especially by Liberians in America.
2. Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu
The Liberian Dialogue website re-published Woewiyu’s letter on 16 May 2014 immediately after his arrest in the United States early in May this year.
http://www.theperspective.org/2014/0515201402.php
“Observers believe that the arrest is a warning to Liberian warlords masquerading as politicians in Liberia and those who live in the comfort of the United States.” – The Perspective
Not a nice signal to Ethelbert Cooper.
And here is the report of Woewiyu’s arrest with the views of the Liberian Dialogue:
http://theliberiandialogue.org/2014/05/14/jucontee-woewiyus-finally-in-jail-whos-next/
Woewiyu was a founding member with Charles Taylor of the NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia), the movement which led the first Liberian civil war from 1989. Woewiyu was also a Minister of Defence for the NPFL and later a Minister of Labour when Taylor became President of Liberia in 1997.
Interesting background about Woewiyu and events in Liberia in the 1980s-1990s contained in Woewiyu’s US court indictment here:
http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2014/140513philadelphia.pdf
3. Randall Cooper and Ethelbert Cooper
In his open letter, Woewiyu refers to Randall Cooper and Ethelbert Cooper. Their names are listed in 2nd and 3rd positions, and not for alphabetical reasons, in a list of 49 persons contained in the Consolidated Final Report dated 30 June 2009 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia. The list appears under the title “List of Persons Subject to/Recommended for Public Sanctions” and under the following statement:
“All those associated with former warring factions, their leaders, political decision makers, financiers, organizers, commanders, foot soldiers shall be subject to public sanctions in one form or another.
The below comprising of the most prominent political leaders and financiers of different warring factions and armed groups, by their conduct, leadership, finances, and support, actions or inactions, are responsible for the commission of gross human rights violations, international humanitarian lawviolations, international human rights law, war crimes, and egregious domestic law violations. This list is by no means exhaustive but represents the most prominent individuals identified by the TRC worthy of public sanction because of their roles during the years of war and instability in Liberia. The following and all other persons similarly situated shall be subject to public sanctions as herein described above in section 14.2 and are specifically barred from holding public office, elected or appointed, for a period of thirty (30) years as of July 1, 2009.”
See page 361 in the TRC’s report here:
http://trcofliberia.org/resources/reports/final/volume-two_layout-1.pdf
So basically, besides dealing with Shiv Nair who is permanently debarred for corruption by the World Bank, the government of Joseph Muscat has been dealing with Ethelbert Cooper who is proposed for debarment from public office by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia.
Who knows, maybe on his next trip to Harvard’s Hutchins Centre, Mr. Cooper will be the next one to be arrested for not having declared his involvement in the Liberian war when obtaining his American papers? Or is his contribution to the Hutchins Centre on African culture part of the community service and compensation for his role in Liberia’s civil wars?
Here, another Liberian commission, and another reference to Ethelbert Cooper:
http://www.emansion.gov.lr/doc/DUNN_COMMISSION_Updated.pdf
This is the report – dated 7 January 2009 – of an ad-hoc commission (the Dunn Commission) set up to invetigate the “e-mail saga” – a number of corruption scandals in the Liberian government revealed by the news website Africa Front Page through the online publication, in August 2008, of a sequence of e-mail correspondence between Liberian government officers and involved third parties.
One of the corruption cases involved the negotiations for the renewal of the contract for the services of the Liberian ship and company registry, which at the time was being run by private operator LISCR.
It appears that LISCR managed to secure the contract renewal, and that they are still online today:
http://www.liscr.com/liscr/
But in the period referred to in the report, the contract was up for renewal and there were other bidders competing with LISCR, including the company Oceanic Corporate Services of New York (OCS).
Footnote 9 on page 4 of the report reveals that Ethelbert Cooper was believed to be a “silent partner” in OCS’s endevour in bidding for the registry services. The report identifies Prof. Dew Mayson as a conduit to deliver OCS’s proposal to the Commissioner for the Bureau of Maritime Affairs, Mr. Binyah Kessely, and earlier, to his predecessor.
The report conclusions include this paragraph about the OCS bid:
“Professor Dew Mayson’s role as conduit in respect of the OCS proposal, though reportedly less pretentious, requires close scrutiny given what has gone down regarding the Registry in the past several years. It also has the appearance of undue influence in reference to the LISCR contract negotiations.
While Ethelbert Cooper is listed at number 3, Dew Mayson is in position 6 in the list of persons recommended for public sanctions in the 30 June 2009 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia – page 361 in the report here:
http://trcofliberia.org/resources/reports/final/volume-two_layout-1.pdf
Actually, the open letter by Woewiyu to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf contains two references to Ethelbert Cooper.
The first one was quoted above where he is mentioned in the same sentence with Randall Cooper.
The second one says:
“Let me refresh your memory on the financial contributions from your sources. Twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) was the initial contribution by your consortium (Clarence Simpson and Taylor Major), when the war started. I am the founding Chairman of the Association for Constitutional Democracy in Liberia (ACDL). Let me not forget the $50,000.00 contribution that you passed through Mr. Allen Brown Sr. who was then running an insurance business in the Ivory Coast. You had earmarked the money specifically to buy rice for the fighting men and it was done.
Another $150,000.00 was contributed by some of your friends and delivered to Dew Mayson, Ethelbert Cooper and Emmanuel Shaw to be forwarded to the NPFL. If you recalled, those bad boys ate the money and we were only able to recover $75,000.00 of it six months later.”
As mentioned before, Dew Mayson is also listed in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report as one of 49 persons to be publicly sanctioned.
http://www.africa-asia-confidential.com/article-preview/id/781/Cond%c3%a9%e2%80%99s_great_giveaway
“Conde”s Great Giveaway
A government partner is handing over major stakes in the Simandou contracts to Chinese state-owned firms
Despite support from groups like George Soros’s Open Society Institute, President Alpha Condé’s government persists in striking troublesome mining deals. The government and the African Iron Ore Group, founded by Ethelbert Cooper, a Liberian, signed a deal in November 2011 that would secure AIOG a stake in the planned infrastructure for the Simandou mine – on condition that it help to arrange the finance. It now appears that AIOG has merely done what the Guinean state could have done itself – roped in Chinese state-owned enterprises – and in the process handed over a 40% portion of Guinea’s share of the railway line and port…”
– Africa-Asia Confidential
More useful information about the involvement of Ethelbert Cooper’s AIOG and its Chinese interests in scandalous Guinean mining deals with the blessing of the Guinean government here:
http://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Guinea-Special-Analysis-Jan-2013.pdf
Refer to pages 13 to 15.
And pages 79 to 80.