MONROVIA – Criminal Court ‘C’ has granted clearance to three former officials of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) after government lawyers dropped criminal charges against them.
Richard H. Walker, former Director for Banking, Joseph Dennis, former Director of Internal Audit and Dorbor Hagba, former Director of Finance, all of the CBL were given clearance by the Criminal Court ‘C’ on Friday, June 26, 2020.
The clearance reads: “A careful perusal, the case file reveals that the Republic of Liberia, through the Ministry of Justice represented by the Solicitor General and the County Attorney for Montserrado County filed a motion to nolle prosequi in favor of Joseph Dennis, Dorbor Hagba and Richard H. Walker. The court granted the aforesaid motion, and dismissed the indictment drawn against them, thereby restoring Joseph Dennis, Dorbor Hagba and Richard H. Walker’s liberties as free and prominent citizens of the Republic of Liberia.”
The court’s decision to grant the ex-CBL officials’ clearance was due to the charges that were dropped against them by the State through a nolle prosequi without prejudice to the State. This means the government can re-arrest them when there is a cause or sufficient evidence against them.
The submission to nolle prosequi the charges against the former CBL Officials was filed by Cllr. Jerry D. Garlarwolo on Wednesday, June 24, when the court was set to hear the case.
According to Cllr. Garlarwolo, the State’s decision to drop charges against the former CBL officials is in line with Chapter 18, Sub Section 18.1 of the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) of Liberia.
They were later released to their lawyer Cllr. J. Jonny Momoh.
However, in response to the State’s submission, the defendants’ lawyer, Cllr. Momoh interposed no objection to the State’s request to drop the charges against his clients.
In his ruling, Judge Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay of Criminal Court ‘C’ granted the State request.
“This court is left with no alternative but to grant the said request,” Judge Gbeisay ruled.
The three officials were indicted along with other defendants on June 8, 2020 by the grand jury of Montserrado County for the alleged commission of the crimes of Economic Sabotage, Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Facilitation among others.
The charges were levelled against them by the State in connection to the alleged printing of over L$10 million without authorization from the legislature.