There has been a week long riot in Nimba County against Arcelor Mittal’s operation in the region, mainly on mount Blei and Delton, areas where Solway was doing exploration until a dubious transfer and felonious transfer of ownership followed by a subsequent sale in the 419 style took place during the regime of former president George Weah.
This sale took the proper owners of the company by surprise, and they decided to take Government to the international court.
The new Government of Joseph Boakai, since its emergence in power, has decided to do the needful to have this matter solved the way it is meant to be.
Solway AG, the proper owner of Solway Mining Company, visited the new president to explain why the decision of litigation was taken, and what the ways are.
As the government and Solway continue the negotiation, it was shocking again to know that a group of people calling themselves owners of Solway have initiated a demonstration in Nimba with the help of Country Devils to stop all operations of AML.
The paradox here is that this group of demonstrators were put together, organized, and financed by Alford Morgan, the same man who claimed he was the owner of Solway, told the Weah’s government that he was selling the company to AML, but sued the Weah’s Government, AML, Samuel Tweh and Musa Dean, because his share of the money given by AML to the Weah’s Government was not satisfactory to him.
THE MOVANT TO DISMISS MORGAN’S CLAIM IN COURT
Following that law suit by Alford Morgan in court, the Ministry of Justice, following an investigation, filed a movant to dismiss Morgan’s claim.
“The law in this jurisdiction is that for any person to institute any action before courts of the Republic, said person must have standing and capacity. This means that the person must be affected by the reason for which the action is instituted or must be entitled to the benefits of the outcome of the action. A person instituting a legal action for or on behalf of a corporation as in the present case must be a corporate officer with authorization from the board of director of the corporation to institute the action for the benefit of the corporation.
Further, to counts on (1) above, movant submits that Mr. Alford Morgan who instituted this action was a paid agent of Solway Industries Ltd for the registration of Solway Mining Incorporated in Liberia, which was done by the filing of the article of incorporation with the Liberia Business Registry in 2018. That 2018 article of incorporation in which Alford Morgan owned 100% of the capital shares of Solway Mining Incorporated was amended in January, 2020, with the UNANIMOUS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE HOLDER OF ALL THE OUTSTANDING SHARES OF SOLWAY MINING INCORPORATED of Mr. Alford Morgan to give the true owner, Solway Industries Lt. 75% of the capital shares of the company while Mr. Alford Morgan was left with 25% capital shares. 2nd respondent informed the ORGANIZATION MEETING OF SOLWAY MINING INCORPORATED held on September 25, 2020 at Suit 5B, KN7 APPARTMENTS on 9th street Sinkor Monrovia, Liberia, about the amendment of the article of incorporation at the board meeting. That meeting which was attended by Pavel Ermolaev, Alford Morgan and Denis Gerasev(by phone), also elected Pavel Ermolaev as Chairman, Alford Morgan as Secretary and Denis Gerasev as Treasyrer of the initial Board of directors.” The movant indicated.
Movant submits that the amended and restated article of incorporation of Solway Mining Incorporated was farther amended on July 7, 2023, to among other things change the board members to two (Mr. Pavel Ermolaev and Mr. Sam RUSS) and changed the shareholdings as followed: Alford Morgan, 125 shares constituting 0.002084% and Solway Industries Swiss AG, 6,00375 shares, constituting 99.7916%. Hence, second respondent’s claim of being the sole shareholder of Solway Mining Inc. is false and misleading. Hence, the Solway Mining Inc. of 2018 with Alford Morgan as Managing Director and sole shareholder is no longer in existence. Similarly, Alford Morgan who owns 0.002084% of the company lacks standing and capacity to institute action on behalf of Solway Mining Inc. with authorization from the board of Director. Attached and marked as plaintiff EXHIBIT M/3 IN BULK are copies of the last amendment and affidavit of Mr. Alford Morgan to form part of this amendment.
Another paradox is that the demonstrators are going around in the communities trying to convince the dwellers that Vice-president Jerimiah KOUNG is in support of the riot because he wants to bring another company to take over the mountains in questions, and he is working along with Alford Morgan to achieve that goal.
However, the office of the Vice-President of Liberia has denied the claims by Grace Barry and her husband that VP Koung is in support of the riot.
“The Office of the Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung expresses concern over the deliberate attempts by talk show hosts of the Freedom Morning drive to mislead the public about the recently held protest by some employees of Arcelor Mittal. In a statement, the Vice President’s Office notes that the propagandists at Freedom FM are trying hard to market their falsified information to attract public attention. The Office caution the radio station that the Vice President will never be used to transport them to unusual political relevance. The Office of the Vice President emphasizes that Vice President Koung has absolutely nothing to gain in undermining his government under the able leadership of President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, Sr. The Vice President is described as a man of wisdom who is aware of the negative implications of stalling the operations of a concession company that is a major player in the Liberian economy.” Koung/s office says.
The Vice President’s Office recognized the desperate strategy by propagandists and political pundits to create a divisive wedge between national leaders. However, the Office expressed confidence in the maturity and leadership acumen of this new breed of leaders.
The statement concluded by stating that the Vice President is conscious of the pivotal role of Arcelor Mittal in Liberia’s economic growth and development, and his entire focus is to continue to support President Boakai in transforming the lives of the Liberian people.
Grace Barry and her husband Alieu Barry, who is an Iman, are said to be the main agents of Alford Morgan on the field. Grace Barry and her husband receive cash from Alford Morgan to enable them to recruit some youths in the area.
Despite the cash they proposed in the community, Grace and her husband did not get enough rioters from Nimba. Reason why they decided to go to Monrovia and propose cash to some youths who accepted the offers.
“He is not from Nimba. So whether our county is destroyed or not, that is none of his business. This is the reason why we refused to follow Morgan. Those who are following the Barrys should know that this is the only place they ca call our own.” Sam Gaye, 35, told this paper.
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