Monrovia – The economic sabotage, bribery, criminal conspiracy, facilitation and solicitation charges levied by the state against the embattled House Speaker Alex Tyler, Grand Cape Mount County Senator Varney Sherman and others have been placed on the docket of the Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice for the August 2016 Term of Court.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian [email protected]
Other defendants to be tried alongside House Speaker Tyler and Varney Sherman are: former National Investment Chairman, Richard Tolbert, former Deputy Lands & Mines Minister Ernest C. B. Jones, businessman Christopher Onanuga and British national Andrew Grove of Sable Mining.
The Criminal Court “C” sitting at the Temple of Justice, which has been established to prosecute cases of financial malpractices, has on its docket for the August 2016 Term Court 136 cases, of which 84 are theft of property, 24 entail misapplication of entrusted property, 9 are economic sabotage, 10 burglary/robbery, 2 money laundering, 1 criminal conveyance of land 5, and 3 un-licensed importation of controlled drug/substance.
Other economic sabotages cases that have surfaced on the docket of Criminal Court “C” are the cases involving the former Managing Director of the Liberia Airport Authority (LAA), Ellen Cockrum, and that of the dismissed Managing Director of the National Port Authority Matilda Parker and Comptroller, Christina Paelay.
The case involving Ellen Cokrum and her boyfriend Melvin Johnson, both U.S. citizens, has been before the Criminal Court “C” since July 31, 2013 and stalled due to the prosecution’s inability to extradite the two defendants to Liberia to stand as reports have it that the U.S. Government does not trust the Liberian judicial system to surrender its citizen for prosecution while another report has it that the prosecution, headed by Solicitor General Cllr. Betty Lamin Blamo, is working out every formality with the United States Government to have the two defendants extradited.
While the economic sabotage case involving the former NPA boss Parker and Comptroller Paelay was ordered adjourned by the Supreme Court Justice –in- Chamber Associate Justice Jamesette Wolokollie with no date set for re-trial last February due to juror tampering.
For Speaker Tyler and others who were indicted by the grand jury of Montserrado County on May 24, 2016, they were freed on bail after filing their respective criminal bonds by presiding Judge Emery Paye following a brief court appearance at the criminal Court “C” on May 25, 2016.
The six defendants have been indicted by the state based on a report by the British based NGO Global Witness, which stated that while serving in various capacities in government, the defendants allegedly received bribe in the amount of US$950,000 to amend the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) Act in favor of Sable Mining to mine the Wologisi Mountain in Lofa County in northern Liberia.
However, a source closed to Criminal Court “C” told FrontPage Africa on the basis of anonymity that despite the placement of nine economic sabotage cases on the docket of the court for the August Term, it will be the prerogative of the state to prioritize it.