Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a series on Representative Thomas Romeo Quioh’s involvement with a Sinoe County Community Forest Contract.
MONROVIA – 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 UAE-based firm, according to its articles of incorporation and business registration certificate.
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. 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 over African Finch’s illegal registration.
Now, alerted by African Finch’s suspicious documents, DayLight investigated its parent company, Finch General Trading FZE’s UAE status.
The investigation found that Finch General is not registered in the Ajman business registry, as African Finch’s legal documents claim. Finch General is not even recorded in the UAE’s database. Further search in the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) Aleph, one of the world’s largest databases of companies, got the same result.
To verify that information, we searched and found Blue Carbon, the Emirati firm that unsuccessfully sought a carbon credit deal with Liberia in 2023. We also found Prestige Constructions LLC obtained from a tax company’s website as a sample of a real certificate.
Next, The DayLight reviewed Finch General’s website and found more issues.
The website’s host, NameSilo, is a legitimate website host. However, it is widely credited with offering privacy protection services, which experts say can be exploited to hide individuals’ identities.
Finch General Trading FZE is located at SM Office HI 222D, Ajman Free Zone, according to the website. But the geolocation it provides points to ASL Logistics, a shipping and distribution company. Also, the website directs users to verify its legitimacy via another site for official business, instead of the official Ajman Free Zone domain for verification.
Red flags
With Finch General’s UAE status unconfirmed and issues with its website discovered, reporters reviewed a Finch General business certificate that Thomas Romeo Quioh, Representative of Sinoe County District-1, posted on Facebook. Quioh had posted the document to disprove the newspaper’s report that he admitted to being on African Finch’s board of directors.
A previous DayLight investigation had cited townsfolk and local officials in Numopoh District, Sinoe County, who alleged he co-owned African Finch. An African Finch executive confirmed Quioh’s control of the company, telling The DayLight to “Speak to [the] Hon.” on company matters.
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’s Kpayan District. Quioh denies the allegations.
DayLight’s 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.
Finch General Trading FZE’s fake business incorporation certificate that was posted by Representative Thomas Romeo Quioh on Facebook
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.
Second, it was issued on August 11, 2020—seven years after the company’s registration on September 26, 2013—a red flag. Also, it lacks QR codes and barcodes, important features on UAE business certificates for verifying a company’s legal status.
Finally, it does not name Finch General’s beneficial owners, violating the UAE’s Regulation on the Procedures Related to Real Beneficiaries. Like its Liberian counterpart, the UAE regulation calls for all companies to list their ultimate beneficial owners.
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. Moreover, faking the UAE document constitutes forgery, a crime under Liberian law.
Also, Quioh’s stated role on African Finch’s board, the company’s 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 and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials.
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’s leadership and oversees the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), which regulates the industry. The FDA did not respond to queries for comments.
Similarly, the lawmaker’s office declined to respond to detailed queries on African Finch. However, appearing on an Okay FM talk show last week, Quioh claimed he had mistakenly mentioned African Finch. He meant to say Numopoh.
But the evidence contradicts his claim. Quioh mentioned multiple times in a Facebook post that he was on African Finch’s board, which is inconsistent with a mistake. “As a duly elected lawmaker and… a member of the advisory board of the Board of Directors of African Finch Incorporation, my involvement in forestry-related matters is strictly within the confines of my legislative oversight responsibilities,” said Quioh in the first mention
A screenshot of The DayLight’s WhatsApp conversation with Kwadjo Asabre, an African Finch executive
“My role was guided solely by my legislative oversight responsibilities and my position on the advisory board of directors of African Finch…, which is fully aligned with law and transparency,” added Quioh in the second.
To cover up, he altered that line by adding “community forest management committee,” a nonexistent structure in forestry. The DayLight documented the two versions of the post.
Furthermore, Quioh’s cover-up comment of being an advisor to Numopoh is unrealistic. In community forestry, lawmakers do not advise. Instead, they supervise community forests’ day-to-day activities, including plants, budget and even the removal of unscrupulous forest leaders.
African Finch did not return detailed questions on its Liberian and Emirati registration. Edem Macarfui, the company’s registered agent, who receives its legal communications, referred this reporter to Kwadjo Asabre, the company executive who had asked the newspaper to speak to Quioh.
“We don’t have any response for you. We do not support mischief and dishonest publications. It’s cowardice,” said Asabre.
“Don’t text me again.”
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ). It first appeared in The DayLight and has been published here as part of an editorial collaboration.
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