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Editor\u2019s Note: This is the second part of a series on Representative Thomas Romeo Quioh\u2019s involvement with a Sinoe County Community Forest Contract.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n MONROVIA \u2013 In May last year, African Finch Logging Limited was established to trade timber and other forest products. The company is owned by Finch General Trading FZE<\/a>, a UAE-based firm, according to its articles of incorporation and business registration certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But African Finch did not declare its beneficial owners, the human beings who own the company, based on its legal, and other official documents the DayLight obtained. This is a breach of the Beneficial Ownership Regulation<\/a>. The 2023 regulation requires companies to register their beneficial owners as a way of combating money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing. The DayLight has written the Liberia Business Registry about African Finch\u2019s illegal registration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, alerted by African Finch\u2019s suspicious documents, DayLight investigated its parent company, Finch General Trading FZE\u2019s UAE status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation found that Finch General is not registered in the Ajman business registry, as African Finch\u2019s legal documents claim. Finch General is not even recorded in the UAE\u2019s database. Further search in the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) Aleph<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s largest databases of companies, got the same result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To verify that information, we searched and found Blue Carbon, the Emirati firm that unsuccessfully sought a carbon credit deal<\/a> with Liberia in 2023. We also found Prestige Constructions LLC obtained from a tax company\u2019s website<\/a> as a sample of a real certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, The DayLight reviewed Finch General\u2019s website and found more issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The website\u2019s host, NameSilo<\/a>, is a legitimate website host. However, it is widely credited with offering privacy protection services, which experts say can be exploited to hide individuals\u2019 identities<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finch General Trading FZE is located<\/a> at SM Office HI 222D, Ajman Free Zone, according to the website. But the geolocation it provides points to ASL Logistics<\/a>, a shipping and distribution company. Also, the website<\/a> directs users to verify its legitimacy via another site<\/a> for official business, instead of the official Ajman Free Zone domain<\/a> for verification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Red flags<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With Finch General\u2019s UAE status unconfirmed and issues with its website discovered, reporters reviewed a Finch General business certificate that Thomas Romeo Quioh<\/a>, Representative of Sinoe County District-1, posted on Facebook. Quioh had posted the document to disprove the newspaper\u2019s report<\/a> that he admitted to being on African Finch\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A previous DayLight investigation<\/a> had cited townsfolk and local officials in Numopoh District, Sinoe County, who alleged he co-owned African Finch. An African Finch executive confirmed Quioh\u2019s control of the company, telling The DayLight to \u201cSpeak to [the] Hon.\u201d on company matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Locals accused Quioh of bribing and intimidating them into signing an MoU with African Finch on the same day it was introduced. African Finch has signed a contract for logging in the Numopoh Community Forest in Sinoe\u2019s Kpayan District. Quioh denies the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DayLight\u2019s review of the document Quioh posted found several discrepancies consistent with a forgery. The evidence suggests it was used to register African Finch in Liberia, as it was notarized the same day as the article of incorporation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, the document contains a passport with identification number 167557. However, the format used is invalid and short for a UAE passport. UAE passport numbers typically consist of eight digits, including letters, and not six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, it was issued on August 11, 2020\u2014seven years after the company’s registration on September 26, 2013\u2014a red flag. Also, it lacks QR codes and barcodes, important features on UAE business certificates for verifying a company\u2019s legal status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, it does not name Finch General\u2019s beneficial owners, violating the UAE\u2019s Regulation on the Procedures Related to Real Beneficiaries<\/a>. Like its Liberian counterpart, the UAE regulation calls for all companies to list their ultimate beneficial owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All these findings mean that African Finch lied under oath about its status in the UAE, which constitutes perjury, according to the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications<\/a>. Moreover, faking the UAE document constitutes forgery, a crime under Liberian law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, Quioh\u2019s stated role on African Finch\u2019s board, the company\u2019s hidden shareholders, and its unproven UAE status do not rule out the likelihood that he co-owns it. His control of African Finch violates the National Forestry Reform Law<\/a> and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both laws prohibit a lawmaker from controlling a private firm conducting business with the Liberian government. As a lawmaker, Quioh is naturally a member of the Numopoh Community Forest\u2019s leadership and oversees the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), which regulates the industry. The FDA did not respond to queries for comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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