Monrovia – The criminal conspiracy, economic sabotage, criminal facilitation & Criminal solicitation bribery indictment involving several past and present Liberian officials and foreign nationals, appears to be on the verge of taking a dramatic turn with those accused claiming that the indictment is faulty.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian [email protected]
A Presidential Task Force constituted by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf under the chairmanship of Cllr. Fonati Koffa some three months ago has vowed to bring down guilty those allegedly linked to the bribery allegation which is based on a report released by a British corruption watchdog, Global Witness in May this year.
Grand Cape Mount County Senator Varney Sherman, one of those allegedly linked to saga has already challenged the indictment on grounds that it is defective because it failed to state the time the alleged crime was committed.
Also appearing in court on Monday to call for the dismissal of case on grounds that it faulty; was Mr. Andrew Grove, who represents the Sable Mining, believed to have offered the bribery in the tune of US$950, 000.00.
Besides his request to dismiss the indictment against him, Grove who is a British national charged with the multiple crimes said he is not resident in Liberia and therefore has nothing to do with any officials in public service in Liberia and that a Liberian court has no jurisdiction over him in the charges mentioned supra.
Representing his client, the two lawyers argued before the Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice Monday over a motion to dismiss indictment against him.
Lawyers of the accused, Cllr. Syrenius Cephas and Atty. Edwin Martin asked the court to dismiss the indictment against their client on the basis that the indictment against him is faulty because the court lacks territorial jurisdiction.
“This indictment is faulty, the law says an indictment must be exact and should indicate the time, place and degree of the crime committed but in the instant indictment during the period of 2010-2011, the crime committed by my client was not exact” said Cllr. Cephas.
According to Cllr. Cephas and Atty. Martin, the state has relied on claim that there is an extradition treaty between the Liberia and the British Government which the state wants to use to extradite the defendant to Liberia but noted that the state is unable to produce copy of the treaty in court; asking the court to take judicial notice of that action.
“In our motion to dismiss the indictment, we are acting in the ambit of the law, where the treaty that the state is referring to now is not found anywhere in this court, if they say there is a treaty let them use it at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to serve the indictment on the defendant”, Atty. Martin challenged the state lawyers.
He asked the court to dismiss the indictment against Grove and give him the relief deemed necessary by the court as soon as possible.
But state lawyers and Montserrado County Attorney Cllr. Daku Mulbah and former Solicitor General Theophilus Gould differed with the two lawyers, indicating that the court should dismiss the motion before it because the defendant has not been brought under the jurisdiction of the court.
“Where there is a treaty you cannot file a motion to dismiss an indictment against that defendant when the person has not been brought under the jurisdiction of the court, this motion is dismissible, don’t waste our time” said Cllr. Mulbah.
He went on to say that in order for the state to have jurisdiction over the defendant he should be extradited to Liberia.
On the issue of the letter written by President Sirleaf to Speaker J. Alex Tyler to amend the PPCC Act, he stated that the letter was not an issue of concern but the real issue on the ground is government officials receiving bribes to amend the law.
Cllr. Gould who closed the argument on behalf of the state, referred to the motion to dismiss the motion filed by Cllr. Cephas and Martin as a “mistake” indicating that the defendant is not a resident of Liberia, yet he had linked with government officials in the country.
However in this ruling following the pros and cons of the argument Judge Emery Paye has ordered the two parties to present their legal memorandum to be used as the basis to make determination on the motion.
Defendant Grove of the Sable Mining has been indicted alongside with House Speaker Tyler and Senator Sherman for allegedly awarding a bribe of over US$900,000 to amend the Public Procurement and Concession Act (PPCC) to grant concession agreement to mine the Wologisi Mountain in Lofa County.