LIBERIA NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

P.O. Box 10-6242

Charif Pharmacy Building, Above Medlink Clinic
Randall Street
1000 Monrovia, 10 Liberia
West Africa

October 24, 2019

Mr. Mustapha Beraff

President
Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA)
Abuja, Nigeria

Mr. President:

The Liberia National Olympic Committee (LNOC) read with total dismay and
utter disbelief the Wednesday, October 23, 2019 edition of Inside The Game,
where a “Vote of No Confidence” against the President of ANOCA, Mr.
Mustapha Berraf, the Secretary General, Mr. Ahmed Abou Elgasim Hashim, and
the Treasurer General, Mr. Habu Ahmed Gumel, was allegedly attributed to the
Liberian NOC.

The Liberia National Olympic Committee (LNOC) wants to state officially for
the record that at no time did the NOC of Liberia write, circulate or speak to any
NOC in Doha/Qatar of a “Vote of No Confidence” against the ANOCA
Administration as is being alleged by the October 23, 2019 edition of Inside The
Game. The NOC of Liberia wants to further state for the record that it received
the “Vote of No Confidence” like all African NOCs attending the General
Assembly in Doha/Qatar by an anonymous e-mail.

The NOC of Liberia is not a coward but a responsible member of ANOCA and
does not, in any way, shy away from owing up to its responsibility, once that
same is legal, just and falls within ethics and Constitutional borders of ANOCA in
particular and the Olympic Movement governed by the Olympic Charter
Worldwide.
The NOC of Liberia, having read and digested the content of the "Whistleblower"
account about the situation in ANOCA, did an independent, in-partial and
conclusive investigation into the allegations of the "Whistleblower".

As offensive and shocking as our (NOC Liberia) investigative findings into the
"Whistleblower" account may seem in some quarters of ANOCA, the NOC of
Liberia affirms to the best of its ability that the below stated accounts are true,
factual and accurate:

(1) FACT: The former President of ANOCA and President of the NOC of Cote
D'ivoire, Int. General Lassana Palenfo, was taken to court by ANOCA on
September 2, 2019. ANOCA hired D. A. Awosika, ESQ from D. A. Awosika and
Partners through the ANOCA Legal Commission Chair as shown in the court
documents without the knowledge and expressed approval of both the
Executive Committee and the General Assembly. General Palenfo was never
notified of the lawsuit or served officially. Was it not for the discovery by a
whistleblower, judgement could have been passed against General Lassana
Palenfo without his knowledge, as this obviously seemed to be the plan.

(2) FACT: When approached by the NOC of Liberia, the Secretary General and
the Treasurer General of ANOCA outrightly denied that there have been "no"
lawsuit issued against the former President of ANOCA even though it is common
knowledge that such an action cannot be initiated in Abuja, Nigeria without the
involvement of the ANOCA Secretary General and Treasurer General. The court
documents also show a witness statement by the ANOCA Accountant, Mr.
Jonathan Dyagas, who is the sole witness in the case. When they were
confronted with a copy of the actual lawsuit, the above ANOCA officials, being
or pretending to be surprised, said that they had no fore-knowledge about the
lawsuit against General Palenfo and promised to have same withdrawn
immediately.

(3) FACT: When the NOC of Liberia sought clarity from the President of ANOCA,
Mustapha Berraf, as to the lawsuit against General Palenfo, he outrightly
confirmed the lawsuit against General Palenfo stating that "it was in response
to a lawsuit filed against ANOCA in Switzerland by Mohamed Azzoug. The
President said that Mohamed Azzoug took ANOCA to court in Switzerland and
the courts of Switzerland have frozen the accounts of ANOCA with EUR 400,000
(four hundred thousand Euros) in the account

(4) FACT: General Palenfo was taken to court at the National Industrial Court of
Nigeria, in the Abuja Judicial Division. He has requested the Embassy of Cote
D'Ivoire accredited to Abuja to hire a lawyer for his defense.

(5) FACT: It is alleged that General Palenfo, without the approval of ANOCA
Executive Committee, extended the employment contract of his Chief of Staff,
Mohamed Azzoug, for another four years. It is further alleged that the extention
was done when the offices of ANOCA was closed and there is nothing on file to
bear witness to the employment extension of Mohamed Azzoug.

When the NOC of Liberia requested as to if the former President of ANOCA

Int. General Lassana Palenfo was written by the ANOCA Administration relative
to the extention of Mohamed Azzoug employment and the ongoing lawsuit in
Switzerland, the Treasurer General, Mr. Habu Ahmed Gumel, and the Secretary
General, Mr. Ahmed Abou Elgasim Hashim, said that it was an oversight and
admitted their wrongdoing.

(6) FACT: When the NOC of Liberia asked if Mohamed Azzoug was ever
approached or written by ANOCA about his benefits before proceeding to court
in Switzerland, since all staff members that were laid off had received their just
benefits, the Treasurer General said outrightly "no" owing to the personal
confusion in Algeria between the President of ANOCA, Mr. Mustapha Berraf, and
Mohamed Azzoug. He admitted that Mohamed Azzoug is entitled to his benefits
but same has not been calculated, but can be calculated when needed.

(7) FACT: Nothing has changed as to the ANOCA Administration’s wasteful

spending on unproductive travels of the President. Interestingly, the President
of ANOCA, due to health concerns, has privately hired a Special Assistant that
travels with him regularly. It was discovered during our investigation that the
ANOCA business office pays handsome traveling allowances and cost of business
class tickets into the personal and private bank account of the President of
ANOCA for his Special Assistant.
When the Treasurer General was asked about the payment of funds into the
President of ANOCA’s private bank account, he outrightly confirmed the
accusations but said that he had asked the ANOCA Administration to do a formal
letter of employment. He said that he was expecting the letter of employment
as of the General Assembly in Doha/Qatar. The practice has however been going
on for close to a year.

(8) FACT: The Contractor of the London 2012 Africa Village has taken ANOCA to
court, claiming US$1.4m (one million four hundred thousand dollars). ANOCA
has since lost the case, took three Appeals and lost all three times with
additional fines for abuse of court process. When the Treasurer General was
asked about this situation, he admitted that ANOCA lost the Appeal but said that
the court ruled that since the lawsuit was sports-related they should take their
case to the Court of Arbitration. This could not be independently verified by the
NOC of Liberia.

(9)FACT: According to the investigation conducted by the NOC of Liberia, the

dismissal of Elizabeth Emana is in three folds: firstly, owing to the fact that it was
rumoured in Cape Verde that the First Vice President of ANOCA, Mr. Joao
Manuel Da Costa Alegre Afonso, was going to run to be President of ANOCA, and
Elizabeth Emana by reason of her closeness with him was seemingly supporting
his bid to be President, thereby constituting a threat to the power base of
President Berraf, an immediate conspiracy was hatched in Cape Verde to have
Elizabeth Emana dismissed. Secondly, it was said in Cape Verde by President
Berraf that Elizabeth was campaigning against Nigeria for the General Assembly
to be held in Togo instead of Nigeria. This situation was reported to the
President of the NOC of Nigeria by the President of ANOCA with the request that
Elizabeth be arrested in Nigeria and jailed by the Nigerian Government upon her
return to Nigeria. Thirdly: In Cape Verde, Elizabeth and First Vice President Joao
were accused of undermining the President of ANOCA by siding with the
Minister of Sports in Morocco relative to the Marketing Contract for the 12th
African Games. Owing to this, the President, Mr. Mustapha Berraf, and First Vice
President, Mr. Joao Manuel Da Costa Alegre Afonso, are not on speaking terms
and have no dealings.
The immediate extraction of Elizabeth as a member of the Games Commission
for the African Games and her subsequent dismissal came with no surprise. She
was warned by the NOC of Liberia in Cape Verde of her impending dismissal.

The issue of financial improprieties relative to the African Games, the General
Assembly and the Youth Games could not be independently varified as the
probe conducted by the NOC of Liberia was not an audit. Funds being paid to an
outsider to do the job of the accountant can however be found in the audited
report submitted to the General Assembly by the Treasurer General under a
pseudo name.

The Treasurer General also promised to bring the NOC of Liberia up to speed
regarding the ANOCA funds allegedly unaccounted for and unremitted balances
by Mr Berraf in respect to the General Assembly held in Algeria in July 2018,
concerning the alleged financial mismanagement of ANOCA's funds. NOC Liberia
will also be interested to know how the funds earmarked for the 12th African
Games in Morocco were managed.

The NOC of Liberia is aware of the prevailing situation coming out of Algeria and
all of the allegations therefrom. Even though the situation in Algeria seems not
ANOCA-related although the utilisation of funds from ANOCA constitutes part of
the allegations, the situation is sports-related and the person being accused
happens to be the President of the Association of National Olympic Committees
of Africa (ANOCA).

Owing to the above and the Algerian NOC being a sub-set of ANOCA, ANOCA
has jurisdiction over the prevailing situation coming out of Algeria and should
take seize of the situation before it gets out of hand.

Owing to all of the above scandals, for the sake of clarity, it was agreed among
the Treasurer and Secretary Generals of ANOCA, the President of the NOC of
Liberia and the President of NOC Ghana that before the commencement of the
called Assembly in Doha /Qatar an announcement would be made requesting a
special session in Abuja for the Administration to address themselves to the
countless scandals being faced by ANOCA. Regrettably, the said meeting was
seemingly called off due to the busy schedule of the South African NOCs.
 Unfortunately, this was not the case. At the close of the Assembly, the
President of ANOCA announced that if anyone had problems with him, they
should go and see him.

Without complicating the matter that has the potential of derailing the peace
and stability of ANOCA any further, the NOC of Liberia is calling on the
Administration of ANOCA to live up to the sworn promise and initiate the
process for a meeting to give clarity to the above allegations.

Faithfully yours,

Philipbert S. Browne
President
Liberia National Olympic Committee (LNOC)