Investigation Of Liberian Registry Manager Sought

Investigation Of Liberian Registry Manager Sought

      The Maritime Trades Department of the AFL-CIO has called for a federal investigation of the U.S. company that administers the Liberian flag of convenience cargo and cruise vessel registry.
     The criminal probe would determine whether the company, Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry Inc., of Fairfax, Va., violated U.S. law when it funneled registry revenues to accounts that were used to buy weapons for a rebel faction in Sierra Leone, as charged by the United Nations and by an LISCR competitor, International Registries Inc., of Reston, Va. International Registries ran the Liberian-flag registry until it lost the contract to LISCR two years ago.
     According to a strongly worded UN report cited by the MTD, LISCR diverted the money to arms purchases for the guerrillas in at least four payments through bank accounts in United Arab Emirates. The payments were reportedly ordered by the Liberian Bureau of Maritime Affairs in London at the apparent behest of Charles Taylor, president of Liberia.
     The MTD's recommendation that the Justice Dept. investigate the transactions was included in a policy statement adopted by delegates to the department's recent biennial convention in Las Vegas.
     The UN imposed sanctions on the Taylor regime in March 2001 in response to Liberia's support of the Revolutionary United Front in neighboring Sierra Leone, the MTD statement noted. "The RUF has been accused of killing, raping and mutilating civilians over the last decade," the statement said.
     The statement also cited recent media reports alleging that Liberia is a conduit for a brisk black market trade in diamonds mined in Sierra Leone, and that much of the profit goes to al-Qaeda, the worldwide terrorist network led by Saudi Arabian exile Osama bin Laden.
     "The Maritime Trades Department is concerned over the diversion of Liberian registry funds to support the financial and military needs of the RUF and the violation of other UN sanctions, as well as the alleged connections between Liberia and terrorism," the MTD said. "Further, the MTD is disturbed over reports quoting State Department officials that it is 'highly unlikely' that the U.S. will take any action against Liberia or its ships' register."
     In addition to the investigation of LISCR, the MTD recommended continued UN sanctions against Liberia, due consideration of the UN's "allegations of the misuse of funds by the Liberian maritime registry," and "measures to effect the eventual elimination of the Liberian registry."
     The MTD also urged Congressional hearings on "this most important and serious issue."
     The MTD's statement followed a successful drive by the International Transport Workers Federation to pressure promises of reform from the Liberian government.
     Since July 2001, the ITF has been encouraging cargo and cruise ship owners worldwide to abandon the Liberian flag because of the use of register revenues to help underwrite the RUF, and because of Liberia's role in the illicit sale of diamonds from Sierra Leone.
     The Liberian government said it will cooperate with the U.S. to determine whether bin Laden or his associates use a Liberian safe house to deal the diamonds. One Liberian official in New York said Liberian nationals linked to al-Qaeda will be arrested and turned over to the U.S. Liberia had previously denounced reports of the diamond dealing as an effort to smear Taylor.
     The ITF's drive, coupled with increasing diplomatic pressure and defections from the flag by major fleets, also caused Liberia to announce that revenues generated through the registry will now be channeled through the Central Bank in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, instead of through the Liberian Bureau of Maritime Affairs.
     The shipping revenues, which account for between 75 percent and 90 percent of Liberia's income, will be used for infrastructure construction, maintenance and repair, and for social, health and economic development programs in Liberia, the government said, adding that the World Bank will be asked to monitor receipt and expenditure of all money raised through the FOC registry.
     Before Liberia's announcement, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft predicted that cargo and cruise fleets owned in industrialized countries will continue to withdraw from Liberian registry, and that the flag itself will eventually disappear from the high seas. "We believe that the loss of companies of the caliber of Shell and Royal Caribbean means the beginning of the end of the Liberian register," Cockroft said.

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