Monrovia – The Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice has nullified a criminal lawsuit against the Chairman of Lisa Wood Chris Geeplay Weah and Wasu Holding Inc.
By Willie Tokpah, [email protected]
The court, on the other hand, ruled in favor of an action to recover chattel against the Liberia National Police (LNP), filed by Mr. Weah.
Weah petitioned the court on December 12, 2023, to recover US$12,000 that was forcefully, wrongfully, and without due process taken from him by LNP’s Victor Gboyah and Sam Ballah, who asked him to accompany them and contribute to a police charity event on November 5, 2023.
In his petition to the court, Weah contended Inspector Patrick Sudue and others were informed that forcibly taking money from him was inappropriate and did not fall in line with their operational procedures.
However, he noted that due to his contention against the illicit act by Sudue, Gboyah, and Ballah, they threatened him with the charges of extortion and blackmail for which he decided to seek legal redress.
However, Co-defendants Sudue, Gboyah, and Ballah, in a Motion to Recover Chatel, filed by Weah, responded to the legal document on December 26, 2023, over than 10 days, after the required time stipulated by statute for responsive pleading.
In their response, they alleged that Weah’s complaint, which is a special proceeding to recover chattel, does not apply to criminal proceedings and should be denied and dismissed.
They further alleged that, as agents of the LNP Major Crimes Division, they are authorized to investigate crimes and keep agency used to commit crimes, up to and including the perpetration of a criminal writ of indictment.
They also alleged, that when Weah was arrested on November 3, 2023, and taken to their office, he attempted to bribe them with US$100,000 but brought forth US$11,600.00 which they seized as earnings of crime and ordered him arrested.
Nonetheless, following the legal argument of the plaintiff and defendant, Judge Ousman F. Feika, in his January 31 ruling said Sudue, Gboyah, and Ballah not only filed their answer to Weah’s complaint after the statutory period but also neglected to except to his sureties and file a counter-bond to indemnify him within the statutory time.
“The law in this jurisdiction is that once an action to recover chattel is filed, the defendant must file an exception plaintiff’s sureties along with a counter-bond as a basis for the release of the chattel to the defendants as in the case ‘Jidsanc Inc. et al v Pearson et all 35 LLR 742,” said Feika.
Judge Feika noted that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Liberia is the government parastatal statutorily charged with the responsibility to monitor, invest, gate, and report illegal financial transactions, especially in-flow and out-flow of financial transactions through the banking system, and they should be the one responsible to monitor, flagged and investigate said matter.
The judge further noted that the averments contained in the defendant’s answer show that the plaintiff was a suspect of being involved in illegal financial transactions when transfers of varying amounts were being made to his UBA account in Liberia by another person.
“This court says that with the role assigned to the FIU by the law establishing it, all suspicious financial transactions are supposed to be monitored, flagged, investigated, and reported by the FIU,” Judge Feika registered.
Going forward, Judge Feika added that there is no indication in the records of the proceedings that Mr. Weah is the subject of an FIU investigation because of illegal financial transaction(s) related to his bank account(s) lodged with a local bank in Liberia, neither is there any complainant shown in the records that the Weah is engaged in illegal financial transactions.
He said the court is therefore astonished by the allegation of the Sudue and others that Mr. Weah is a subject of dubious financial transactions related to the transfer of funds illegally made to his bank account held in Liberia when there is no indication that he is a subject of FIU investigation.
Judge Feika, having analyzed the controversies contained in the averments in the pleadings, said the crux of the issue the bar is principled on two issues, which have been defined and lengthily discussed.
Therefore, Judge Feika has ordered Sudue, Gboyah, and Ballah to deliver the said amount to Mr. Weah.
This, the Judge noted, is a result of Sudue, Gboyah and Ballah, defendants in the case, failure, and disobedience to conform to statutory requirements as specified for Action to Recover Chattel.
In a desperate and laughable bid to circumvent the rule of law, the defendants sought a writ of arrest for Weah on trumped-up charges through the Monrovia City Court but, it was immediately nolle prosequi through the legal intervention of Mr. Weah’s Lawyer, Cllr. Arthur Tamba Johnson, who represented Weah in the action to recover chattel.
