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rubber. Little is known of the operations in the 1956 - 1973
period (31). In July 1974 the African Fruit Company was sold
to the then Minister of Finance, Stephen A. Tolbert, and in
October of the same year the new General Manager of the company
informed a high official within the Ministry of Finance that the
previous owners had had the practice of keeping all financial and
other basic data at their headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, and
that therefore copies of most of the operational reports prior to
the sales transaction were not available as they had not been
turned over to the new owners at the time of sale (32).
The few data that are available, however, show that the company
had operated at a loss until it was sold. Consequently it did not
pay income taxes, the only tax from which it was not exempt.
The company was mainly financed with loans, and the subsequent
interest payments greatly affected the financial results. As of
December 31, 1972 e.g. the equity capital of the company amounted
to $ 100,000 whereas liabilities were almost $ 7 million of which
I 6.9 million was a loan from the AFC Laeisz & Co. Hamburg, the
parent company (33). Payments to the Government of stamp fees on
(duty free) imports of materials and equipment, consular fees,
licenses, a duty on rice, fish, etc., port charges and other dues,
as well as a payment of rentals of $ 3,000 yearly during the
almost 22 years of its operations in Liberia may have totalled
between $ 120,000 and $ 240,000, i.e. a marginal average yearly
contribution to the Liberian Treasury of not more than $ 11,000.
The Sales Transaction
In May 1973, Ernest E. Dennis, President of the Liberian National
Trading Corporation, notified the Minister of Agriculture,
James T. Phillips, Jr., that negotiations had commenced with
the African Fruit Company Laeisz & Co. (Liberia) to buy this
company, and that he was organizing a company which was to operate
extensively in agriculture. After having informed the minister at
the same time that a formal agreement between the African Fruit
Company and the Government of Liberia had never been accomplished
he requested permission to start negotiations with the Government
to finalize a concession agreement. A month later E.E. Dennis, a
Liberian national was informed by the (then) Acting Minister of
Finance, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, that according to Article 5 of
the Statement of Understanding of 1952 (34):
"(.,.) although the A7C may Sell to you its assets such
as buildings and equipment it cannot assign, without the
explicit written authorization from the Government, any
title to the land which it holds nor any of the other
rights or privileges which accrues to it under, the Statement
of Understanding." (35)
In July 1974 the Minister of Finance, who at tfee same time was
the Chairman of the Concession Commission which'^had to approve
any concession agreement granted by the Liberian Government,
bought the African Fruit Company, including the concession
rights (36). These events provoked serious political repercus-