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Editor\u2019s Note: This story is the third part of a series on illegalities associated with a newly established community forest in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n VAMBO, Grand Bassa County \u2013 Everything about this company\u2019s contract with a new community forest is illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there are lots of problems, too, based on documents and interviews. The Forestry Development Authority skipped several legal steps before granting Mavasagueh a community forest status. Then the FDA approved Mavasagueh\u2019s logging contract with C&C Corporation (CCC) despite the company\u2019s majority shareholder being barred from forestry activities over his wartime activities. The FDA Managing Director, Rudolph Merab, encouraged a man claiming 3,200 acres of Mavasagueh\u2019s 26,003-hectare woodland to unlawfully compromise. Then, a sawmill linked to the company is illegitimate and engages in illegal timber exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, a DayLight investigation has established that the Mavasagueh-CCC contract constitutes multiple conflicts of interest involving Merab. The investigation found that Merab is related to CCC\u2019s co-owner, and that the sawmill operates on his family’s property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These conflicts of interest likely explain why the FDA boss approved CCC\u2019s contract amid the sea of illegalities, ignoring a civil society critique and failing to take any action against the sawmill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merab\u2019s conflicts of interest violate the Code of Conduct for Public Officials<\/a>, a key legislation for the Boakai administration. Merab did not respond to queries on his dual relationship with Massaquoi and other issues in this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merab and a logger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By his admission<\/a> and LinkedIn profile<\/a>, CCC\u2019s CEO Clarence Massaquoi, worked with Merab during the second half of the Liberian civil conflict. \u201cI worked with Merab from 1999 to 2007 in a managerial role,\u201d he told The DayLight in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Massaquoi\u2019s wartime logging activities disqualify him and the CCC, but the FDA only reviewed the CCC\u2019s financial records, not his wartime activities. War loggers are barred from engaging in forestry unless they confess their roles in Liberia\u2019s bloody conflict (1989 \u2013 2003) and collaborate with the FDA to repay stolen or unpaid funds, according to the Regulation on Bidders Qualification<\/a>. No wartime logger did that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Having known Massaquoi for decades, Merab approved his ex-employee\u2019s contract with Mavasagueh, ignoring calls from a group of civil society organizations to re-demarcate and remap the community forest. A previous DayLight investigation corroborated the finding that the FDA did not raise ample awareness, and that public participation in the process was inadequate. Residents only reviewed Mavasagueh\u2019s contract with CCC some seven months after it was signed, and weeks after Merab approved Massaquoi\u2019s harvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to their wartime association, Merab and Massaquoi are related. Rose James, Merab\u2019s deceased mother, was a Hill. She was related to the Holts, Massaquoi\u2019s maternal family, according to Khalil Haider, a Duport Road resident, who said he was related to both men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Haider’s late mother, Rosa Dillion, had a relation with the Hills. \u201cMy mother and Merab\u2019s mother were cousins, and both families lived separately on Tubman and Church Streets [in Buchanan],\u201d said Haider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMassaquoi and Merab are related, and Merab is my cousin. We are all related,\u201d said<\/a> Haider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His account is backed by an obituary<\/a> of Edward Merab, the FDA boss\u2019 late elder brother, who died in the United States in 2020. Another obituary of Sylvia Holt<\/a>, the matriarch of the Holts, proves that the families are related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Private land in a community forest<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before CCC began harvesting, Merab received a communication from Haider. In the letter, Haider claimed that he owned 1,295 hectares of Mavasagueh\u2019s 26,003-hectare rocky forestland. The plot is located between Mt. Findley and the St. John River. By that time, CCC\u2019s harvesting had already been approved. Haider had first told the FDA about his claim in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was no welcome news for Massaquoi or Merab. The FDA would have to cut off the problematic plot and redo the process, including new mapping, demarcation, and other elements, based on the Community Rights Law Regulation<\/a>. It could involve coordinating with the Liberia Land Authority and the Ministry of Mines and Energy, a rarity<\/a> among public institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a way to avoid that outcome, Merab encouraged Haider to compromise with Massaquoi to continue the operations, according to Haider and Massaquoi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe FDA asked me to see Mr. Haider. I met Haider and we talked,\u201d said Massaquoi in a January interview<\/a> with The DayLight. \u201cHaider and I settled, and said he would work with the community and me, so the FDA should let the document be processed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Haider corroborated that account, disclosing that Massaquoi gave him US$1,500. \u201cI assisted him when he wanted to go to the hospital,\u201d said Massaquoi, calling Haider his stepbrother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interesting turnaround, Haider now claims<\/a> that a letter the FDA hinged its authorization of Massaquoi\u2019s operations was forged. \u201cI did not write that letter,\u201d Haider said. \u201cI know nothing about it. \u201cHe faked the whole letter and my signature.\u201d Haider has written the FDA another letter requesting a redress after his initial letter went unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Massaquoi did not reply to questions for comments on the allegation. However, in the January interview, he claimed Haider had instructed him to write the letter on his behalf, which Haider signed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Long before this, Amos Lewis, a Marshall, Margibi resident, wrote the FDA, claiming the same land as Haider. Both men\u2019s deeds date back to Tubman\u2019s era. Moreover, and more importantly, Lewis\u2019s claim cements the reality that Mavasagueh overlaps with private land. This proves that the Mavasagueh process was flawed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A sawmill on Merab\u2019s family plot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Krish Veneer Industries\u2019 operations present another conflict of interest for Merab. The sawmill is situated in Buchanan on a plot belonging to the Hills, Merab\u2019s maternal family. It is infamous, as the Timber Management Corporation, operated by the Dutchman and eventual war criminal Guus Kowenhoven<\/a>, occupied the facility between 1991 and 1997, Global Witness reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat place is for Merab\u2019s mother and her family,\u201d Haider said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStephen Hill is managing the property; he is a cousin of Merab, and the plywood factory was there long before Merab,\u201d added Massaquoi. \u201cMerab is from Bassa, and the property is owned by his grandfather,\u201d said Massaquoi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is more, though. Massaquoi is also Krish\u2019s general manager, FDA records show. In his January interview, Massaquoi disclosed that Krish was crucial to his operations in Mavasagueh. \u201cI have buyers. I can sell to my plywood factory. My buyers are in Buchanan,\u201d said Massaquoi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The evidence shows that Merab is caught between his relationships and his duty to enforce forestry laws and regulations. The evidence shows that his relationships are winning the conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Krish operates as a partnership in breach of the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications<\/a>. The 2007 regulation states that a sawmill must be a corporation, as a partnership has a limited lifespan and liabilities. The provision stemmed from the Public Procurement and Concession Act<\/a>, carved to safeguard against the government\u2019s revenue loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, the FDA authorized Krish to export 210 illegally harvested logs to Singapore. LiberTrace, the timber tracking system, found that all the logs had issues. Krish made at least three other shipments to that Asian country and the UAE, which had approximately 20 to 30 percent illegal timber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FDA Deputy Managing Director for Administration and Finance Victor Kpaiseh told Okay FM that the agency would act. However, some two months later, Krish\u2019s remains a partnership. The Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), which enforces contracts, has asked the FDA to investigate, according to a letter seen by The DayLight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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