The Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce (AREPT) on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, recorded a major boost to its anti-corruption and asset recovery efforts following a high-level engagement with Madam Kristen Schill, Supervisory Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Transnational Anticorruption Partnership (TAP) Advisor from the U.S. Embassy in Dakar, Senegal.
The visit marked a significant step toward deepening international collaboration in line with AREPT’s mandate under Executive Order No. 145, which empowers the Taskforce to work with international partners to trace, recover, and reclaim stolen public assets belonging to the Republic of Liberia.
Welcoming Madam Schill, AREPT Chairman, Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin, outlined the intent, scope, and achievements of the Taskforce, highlighting its progress in holding perpetrators of corruption accountable. He noted that AREPT has successfully unsealed three major indictments involving more than sixty individuals accused of corruption-related offenses, while actively pursuing forty additional investigations.
Chairman Martin described the engagement as timely and strategic, stating that the visit reinforces AREPT’s ongoing work and lays a firm foundation for sustained international cooperation in combating corruption and economic crimes.
For her part, Madam Schill pledged full collaboration between AREPT and United States as well as other international anti-graft institutions. She emphasized that such cooperation would enhance investigative capacity through intelligence sharing, technical support, and targeted training for AREPT investigators. She further indicated that U.S. agencies, through structured collaboration, would assist AREPT in identifying stolen Liberian public assets located abroad and support related investigations.
Chairman Martin welcomed the commitment and reaffirmed AREPT’s readiness to work closely with the office of Special Agent Schill to translate these commitments into concrete results. He reiterated that recovering stolen public wealth both within Liberia and outside its borders remains central to AREPT’s mission and the broader national fight against corruption.
The meeting, attended by the Chairman, Co-Chair, and two core members of the Taskforce, underscored the growing international confidence in AREPT’s work and reaffirmed the importance of cross-border cooperation in addressing complex corruption and asset recovery cases.
AREPT views this engagement as a critical milestone in strengthening Liberia’s capacity to pursue stolen public assets wherever they may be located and remains committed to executing its mandate with professionalism, integrity, and strict adherence to the rule of law.
