Africa-Press – Liberia. Randy Scott is one of Liberia’s most notorious miners. Picture credit: Facebook/Randy Scott
In January, RAC Incorporated, a mining firm owned by Randy Scott, who was involved in Liberia’s largest mining scandal in Gbarpolu, acquired a gold-exploration license for Lofa County. The three-year license covers 210.76 square kilometers in the Zorzor and Salayea Districts.
But what the Ministry of Mines and Energy apparently did not notice was that at least one of RAC’s documents was fake. A DayLight desk review found over a dozen inconsistencies on RAC’s business registration certificate, ranging from dates to markings.
RAC’s actual certificate was issued on August 1, 2023, and expired on July 26, 2024, according to the Business Registry’s records. It has not been renewed. RAC was first registered on March 31, 2021, about the same time it was founded, according to the company’s business registration certificate and articles of incorporation, and was enrolled at the Liberia Business Registry. An official listing of all the companies Mr. Scott owns or co-owns revealed RAC’s certificate indeed expired on Independence Day last year and had yet to be renewed.
The document RAC filed with the Ministry of Mines claims it was originally registered with the Business Registry on July 30, 2024. It was a red flag because the information contradicted the Business Registry’s records. Moreover, the Ministry of Mines’ records show that RAC’s operations date back to 2022, further proof that RAC could not have initially registered in 2024.
The document in question indicates that RAC’s business registration ran from July 30, 2024, to July 23, 2025. This is inconsistent with certificates issued by the Business Registry. Normally, certificates, which are issued in July, expire in June the following year.
The document identifies the company as “leasing and renting of motor vehicles.” This description omits mining and quarrying, RAC’s main scope of business. Also omitted is the Liberian seal, which is a crucial feature on known samples of valid business registration certificates.
fake business registration certificate RAC Incorporated, owned by Randy Scott, a notorious illegal miner, filed to get a gold-exploration license in Zorzor, Lofa County, covering 210.76 square kilometers.
ria Business Registry records show that RAC’s valid business registration certificate expired on July 26, 2024, and has not been renewed
A tax identification number—unique to a taxpayer—appears at the top-right corner of valid certificates. However, RAC has that detail in the body of the document. It even repeats the company’s business registration number, which, like a taxpayer identification number, appears only once on valid certificates.
Generally, the document in question contains more wording than real business registration certificates. The most telling is a line at the bottom of the document that reads: “This certificate is evidence of registration by enterprise branch/subsidiary as a taxpayer and employer.” The clause is unique to RAC, as valid certificates do not contain that line, suggesting that RAC deployed it to deceive the Ministry of Mines —and it worked.
Forging a document is a crime under the Minerals and Mining Law of Liberia, with a fine between US$1,000 and US$2,000, or a two or three-month prison term after a court process.
‘Go [and] sue me’
The investigation is a follow-up to an initial publication, which established that RAC Incorporated had been issued the exploration license with an expired business registration certificate. It had also found that RAC and Gee Mining Resources Ltd., its affiliate, were involved in illegal mining in River Gee County. The evidence established that RAC signed an MoU with local people, while Gee Mining conducted the mining. Satellite imagery showed that Gee Mining operated over 1,000 meters outside the nearer of its two claims.
The DayLight has written Minister Wilmot Paye about RAC’s forgery and illegal mining activities in River Gee, and the regulator has contacted the Business Registry to verify the document.
Confronted with evidence of the fake document, Scott sounded unbothered. “If you have evidence that my document is fake, go and sue me,” he said in a phone interview. “Do you know a fake document?” Scott holds 95 percent of RAC’s shares, while one Moses Luther holds the remaining shares, according to the company’s articles of incorporation.
This is not the first time Mr. Scott, who co-owns and is linked to multiple companies, has been involved in illegal mining activities. Last July, he and several Chinese nationals were indicted in Liberia’s largest mining scandal, valued at US$48.8 million. Earlier, the Environmental Protection Agency fined J.M. Mining, another of Mr. Scott’s companies, US$95,000 for operating without a permit. Before that, Urban and Rural Services Inc., to which he is connected, operated with an expired license.
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