The new management team at the Liberia Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Agency, or LACRA, distances itself from the report of alleged misapplication of US$56,000 at the institution.
Monrovia, Liberia: August 5, 2025 – The Acting Director General of the Liberia Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Agency, or LACRA, Dan T. Saryee, refutes media report here of an alleged misapplication of US$56,000 at the Agency under his administration, describing it as work of detractors bent on keeping his focus away from current efforts to revive the entity
“This is an attempt by hidden hands that have decided to fight back”, he noted, while addressing the issue in a news conference on Monday, August 4th.
Speaking in his office at LACRA headquarters inside the Freeport of Monrovia, Mr. Saryee, who was appointed last month by President Joseph Boakai, as Acting Director General after the suspension of his predecessor, Christopher D. Sankolo, said such amount of money could not have been stolen in his short time at the Agency, instead, accusing the past administration of using the media to fight a proxy war.
“This management team is here to perform the dream of the President. In the last month, we have fought to regain our property in Bong; we have adopted strategic approaches, and we have been able to secure those properties, negotiating with community people. Today, the LPMC compound in Bong is fully under our control”, he explained. The facility in Bong contains more than 130 acres of palm farm and fishpond.
He also disclosed plans to renovate facilities in Lofa County and Grand Gedeh County. Recently, Acting Director General Saryee completed a three-day tour of Bong and Nimba Counties, where he met with local farmers and buyers.
He had also met with key partners like Global Tracking Maritimes (GTM) and APM Terminals on how to explore collaborative opportunities and, more importantly, to shed light on LACRA’s new compliance standards for shipping. Today, he is expected to hold another round of meetings with these groups.
The new standard tends to dismantle faulty and conflicting shipping regimes, streamline documentation requirements, and information sharing.
Mr. Saryee revealed a scheme under his predecessor, Christopher D. Sankolo, involving senior staff directly receiving payment from clients, authorized by Sankolo.
He exhibited documents in which Mr. Sankolo’s Special Assistant, B. Wesseh Zoryu, received an agent fee of US$300 on July 9, 2025, contrary to proper financial procedure. Aya Group Incorporated, a local agent, made the payment in question.
“The former DG’s special assistant said he was authorized; this is the rot that we are trying to fix. We are in the advice of HR (Human Resources). There will be punishment. We got nothing to do but to present the truth”, he said, adding, “detractors will fade away; liars never thrive.”
He noted that his predecessor ran the entity like a philanthropist, with funds directed outside of accountability and transparency, allegedly in cohort with his (Saryee’s) current Deputy Director General for Operations and Technical Services, Gonda Alpha Kortu Gongolee.
But Mr. Gongolee denied. “This is not true. We have no idea of receiving money; we are to regulate and not to receive. I challenge anybody”, he said. Story by Jonathan Browne
