Liberia Refugee Official Accused of Helping Foreigner Bypass Immigration Laws as Agencies Stay Silent

Published: April 17, 2026

MONROVIA — A senior official at Liberia’s refugee agency allegedly handed a Pakistani businessman the one document he needed to sidestep the country’s immigration and labor laws — and weeks after a formal complaint was filed, neither the commission nor the Ministry of Labour has said a word about it.

The Liberia Labour and Governance Alliance has accused Darrell S. Cholopleh, director for protection at the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, of supervising the issuance of an attestation letter to Pakistani national Atta Rasool, identified as an asylum seeker — an action the group says violated established administrative procedures and bypassed every legal safeguard designed to prevent exactly that kind of abuse.

The group further accused the Ministry of Labour of stonewalling, alleging that Deputy Minister for Manpower Planning and Human Resource Development Steven Kolubah initially committed to investigating the issue but later denied making any such commitment. The silence from both institutions, LILGA said, signals “a major governance and corruption concern” within Liberia’s asylum and labor systems.

In a formal complaint dated March 30 and addressed to the LRRRC, a copy of which is in the possession of this newspaper, LILGA called for a full-scale investigation into the issuance of the attestation letter. Weeks after the complaint was filed, the Commission has yet to respond.

LILGA Executive Director George S. Tengbeh said the attestation letter was issued Jan. 9 under Cholopleh’s supervision. The authority to issue such documentation, he argued, legally rests with the executive director of the Commission, not subordinate officials, and warned that the deviation signals “potential abuse of office and institutional breakdown.”

The procedural breach, LILGA contends, runs deeper than a question of who signed what. Under Liberia’s legally mandated asylum framework, individuals seeking protection must first apply through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, after which the statutory Asylum Committee reviews the case before any employment authorization is granted. That process, the group alleges, was bypassed entirely.

The economic implications concern LILGA as much as the procedural ones. Tengbeh alleged that asylum documentation is being used to regularize the presence of foreign nationals engaged in active business operations, allowing individuals to circumvent standard immigration and labor requirements, including work permits and associated government fees, at a direct cost to state revenue and at the expense of Liberian workers competing in the same markets.

The organization also warned the incident may not be isolated, citing what it described as credible information suggesting a pattern of similar practices pointing to systemic corruption within the system.

“This is a dangerous precedent,” Tengbeh said. “The asylum system is designed to protect vulnerable individuals fleeing persecution, not to serve as a backdoor mechanism for economic actors to circumvent Liberia’s legal and revenue systems.”

LILGA is demanding immediate government action, including a transparent investigation, public disclosure of findings and administrative sanctions against any officials found culpable. The group is also calling for a comprehensive review of asylum governance structures to restore institutional integrity and public trust.

Deputy Minister Kolubah rejected claims that he had committed to any investigation, distancing the Ministry of Labour from the controversy entirely.

“Whether he writes me or being a verbal, I have no idea of any commitment and that’s a lie,” Kolubah said. “We work with LRRRC when it comes to asylum seekers who are seeking permission. We don’t care about asylum, we don’t give resident permit — so why will I qualify somebody to seek asylum in Liberia?”

LRRRC Director of Communications Samuel David told this newspaper the Commission would provide further details on the matter, directing a reporter to visit the Commission directly. That response, offered in lieu of any substantive clarification, has done little to quiet the scrutiny.