With over US$200,000 has been illegally and covertly withdrawn from a savings account opened at the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Liberia Limited to assist agents of the elite Executive Protection Service with financial constraints (EPS).

The Executive Protection Service (EPS) is an elite group of armed men and women who provide security for the President, Vice President, Speaker, and all VIPs in the Executive. They also provide security for foreign visitors who come to the country.

It should be noted that in June 2018, over 800 EPS agents adopted a constitution under the banner "Executive Protection Service Employees' Development Fund" to provide them with opportunities to save and create credit facilities for themselves, from which they can obtain loans for productive and provident purposes at a reasonable interest rate of 5%.

The Fund was managed by a team of five (5) people, and its activities were overseen by a group of three Board Members serving as observers and auditors.

James Helb (Chairman), Alex Togba (Co-Chair), Tony Morris (Credit Manager), James Paye (Financial Secretary), and Joseph Weah led the management team (General Secretary).

Esther P. Chea (Chairperson), Emmanuel Wesseh, and Stephen Morgan served on the Board.

The management team and board were elected by EPS agents, who are referred to as shareholders under the Fund.

Section 1 of the agent's constitution states: "In order for the EPS Employees Development Fund to achieve its intended goal and objectives, the sum of US$20 is charged as monthly due per member, and it is to be deducted from all agreed member monthly salary check by the EPS Comptroller and transferred to the Fund's Bank Account through its Management Team."

Since then, over US$300,000 has been deposited in the Fund's UBA account.

The account number for the fund is 53010550002258, and the title is EPS Employees Development Fund.

Several EPS employees benefited from the initiative, and they were also required to pay back interest into the Fund's account, which was managed by the James Helb leadership.

The fund backfires

However, the initiative backfired when both the EPS administration and the Board discovered a high level of discrepancies and alleged malpractices in the Fund's management in response to multiple complaints and concerns raised by some of the agents or shareholders.

According to an unimpeachable source at the EPS, the administration of the EPS has requested a comprehensive audit of the Fund in October 2021.

According to the source, following the relocation, the EPS Development Fund Management Team, through the Board, made a payment of 70% to all agency employees, with an outstanding payment of 30%.

When agent James Helb allegedly failed to show up for work since August of this year, following the release of the audit, the Board assumed responsibility for starting the payment of the 70%.

Though agent Helb promised to return to work several times to uphold the trust and confidence placed in him by his colleagues, our source said he did not.

The Board made multiple attempts in October 2022 to ensure that the Management Team settled the payment of the remaining 30% to the Fund's agents (shareholders) through agent Helb, but he has yet to avail himself.

According to our source, Chairman Helb has not been seen on the grounds of the EPS on Capitol Hill in Monrovia for nearly four months.

Helb, Togba, and Paye were the previous signatories to the Fund's UBA bank account.