We’ve never heard of an African head of state asking the U.S. to deny visas to individuals suspected of corruption. Until now, that is. It happened on Friday when Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (left), “pleaded with the Government of the United States of America not to give U.S. visas or provide safe havens for Liberians who commit fraud and other acts of corruption in Liberia.” Her request came during the groundbreaking for the new U.S. embassy in Monrovia.
There’s a report from AllAfrica.com here and another on the president’s own snazzy website here. For the record, the U.S. State Department is authorized to deny visas to foreign kleptocrats and their families through Presidential Proclamation 7750. See our post Proclamation 7750 Unwrapped.
President Johnson Sirleaf — or “Ellen,” as the African headline writers like to call her — probably angered a lot of corrupt officials in Liberia and across the African continent with her remarks. She does that a lot. Which is why she went to jail once and was forced into exile several times. But as a champion of the rule of law and an anti-corruption crusader, she’s never wavered.
Now 71, the one-time Citibanker became Liberia’s minister of finance in 1979. After a military coup in 1980, she served as president of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment and was an initial member of the World Bank’s Council of African Advisors.
In 1985, her bio says, she ran for the Liberian senate. But speaking out against the Samuel Doe regime resulted first in house arrest and eventually in a ten-year jail sentence. After a few months in prison she managed to flee to the U.S. She was then appointed to the U.N. as an Assistant Secretary General. In 1997, she returned to Liberia to run for president, finishing second in a field of thirteen.
In 2003, after Charles Taylor was sent into exile, the transitional government appointed Johnson Sirleaf to chair the country’s anti-corruption agency. Then in 2005, she won the presidency. Since her inaguration in January 2006, she’s been working to restore the rule of law and rebuild confidence at home and abroad. America’s decision to build a new embassy there is one sign she’s succeeding.
Johnson Sirleaf holds a masters in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School. Two years ago in Washington, after she spoke to a joint session of Congress, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom “in recognition for her tireless efforts to make Liberia a post-conflict success story.”
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From Frederic Bourke’s Trial. The Litigation Daily’s Andrew Longstreth dropped by the federal courthouse in Manhattan this week. His report is here. He heard some cross-examination on Monday of the government’s key witness, Thomas Farrell, who worked for Viktor Kozeny in Azerbaijan. Farrell had testified on direct that he and Bourke talked about Kozeny’s plan to bribe Azeri officials. Longstreth said:
Farrell, who sports a handlebar mustache and goatee, has some major credibility issues. For one, in 2003 he pled guilty to one count of violating the FCPA and to another count of conspiring to violate the FCPA. . . . But Farrell stood up to the pressure [of cross examination] pretty well. He seemed to connect with the jury, often looking directly at jurors. “Sir, I went into the discussions with the government knowing that I had to tell the truth about what happened,” Farrell said at one point. “I didn’t think I had to point fingers.”
Farrell is facing a maximum of ten years in prison but said he’s hoping for probation. “I have absolutely no control of that nor does the government,” he testified.
Read all our posts about U.S. v. Kozeny and the prosecution of Frederic Bourke here.
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