Monrovia – The trial of the former Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA) Matilda Parker and the Comptroller, Christiana Paelay, took a rather disappointing stage for the defendants Wednesday, September 26, when the court declined to dismiss the indictment against the two former officials.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian, [email protected]
In the ruling, Presiding Judge Boima Kontoe said that the court could not grant the motion to dismiss the indictment against the defendants because the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the indictment.
Judge Kontoe who is serving as both a judge and jury de-facto asserted that the court could not grant the motion because the case at bar is alleged to be criminal in nature and therefore the Criminal Court “C” has jurisdiction over it.
Cllr. Arthur Johnson who represents the defendants took exception to the ruling. He, however, told reporters that he is fully prepared to continue with the trial.
He called for the dismissal of the case on ground that the NPA officials were operating on the orders of the President.
The Grand Jury of Montserrado County in late 2015 charged Parker and Paelay with economic sabotage and theft of property after the government headed by former President Sirleaf had accused them of robbing government of over US$800,000.
This amount, the grand jury revealed, was intended for the removal of wreck from the port of Greenville in Sinoe County as the means of enhancing government’s revenue collection in that part of the country, but the work was never done.
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