By Fiona Benson Kollie
Monrovia-Corruption is said to be reportedly lingering freely at the Independent National Commission on Humans Right, (INCHR) as the Board of Directors are calling on LACC to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the allegations of corruption.
Financial misconduct, abuse of office, payroll fraud and other offenses are some of the reasons the Board is seeking an investigation.
The disclosure was made during a press conference on Tuesday, July 14 2026, by the Acting Board Chairperson of INCHR, Cllr. Mohammed E. Fahnbulleh.
Cllr. Fahnbulleh called is in pursuant to the statutory oversight responsibilities of the INCHR Act that seeks to fulfill its duty as to safeguard public resources and uphold the principle of transparency, accountability and good governance at the entity.
He maintained that upon this back drop, the Board of Directors have resolved to formally refer matters involving the commission’s suspended chairperson Cllr. T. Dempster Brown, the Executive Director Atty. Urias Teh-Pour and the Director for Planning Mr Bah- wah Brownell to the Liberia Anti Corruption Commission for a comprehensive investigation into allegations of corruption, financial misconduct, abuse of office, payroll fraud and other offenses that may be disclosed by evidence during the investigation.
He furthered that the decision to subject these individuals to investigation came follow a review of institutional records undertaken by the current board after his appointment as acting chairperson which he said identified matters that raises serious concern regarding compliance with the Public Financial Management (PFM) Law, the commission’s internal financial control procedure and a proper administration of donor and public resources.
Cllr. Fahnbulleh also disclose that the Board during its research, further identified record indicating that in October of 2025 the suspended chairperson acted on behalf of the commission sought and obtained grant from the UNICEF Liberia office, in the tone of US $ 20, 175.00, which according to him was transferred to the commission on October 15, 2025.
However he said the board believes that the management of the grant was conducted outside the commission’s internal financial control framework and contrary to the governance principle of governing institutional management.
“Preliminary information available to the board also indicate that the authorized signatory arrangements for the project funds were allegedly altered by the suspended chairperson,” Brown, the executive director Teh-Pour and excluding other duly approved institutional signatory including the vice chairperson who served as authorized signatory to the commission’s accounts” Fahnbulleh stated.
Moreover the INCHR Boss also informed the gathering that these matters came to the attention of the board following discovery of a correspondence dated June 24, 2026 from the UNICEF Liberia office, indicating that”portion of a report submitted on behalf of commission had been rejected, which he said have the propensity to undermine the credibility of the institution.
Moving forward, Cllr. Fahnbulleh said it was upon this back drop, prompted the current board leadership to undertake a boarder review of projects documentation and financial records, and also request production of all documents relating to the UNICEF funded project, including project proposal, grant agreements, financial reports, supporting vouchers procurement records , contracts, bank records among other.
He maintained that despite the call for all of these documents, the suspended chairperson and other have refused to present these documents, thereby preventing the current board to effective discharge its statutory oversight responsibility and as such he said the board has decided to reinforce by inviting an independent investigation, seeking the intervention of the Liberia Anti Corruption Commission (LACC) to probe the matters.
