Monrovia – The Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice on Thursday failed to rule whether to dismiss the indictment of former Commerce Minister Miatta Beysolow as requested by her lawyer.
Report by: Kennedy L. Yangian [email protected]
The court had scheduled the ruling on Thursday at 2:30 PM; something the Clerk of the court announced could not be possible due to the lack of electricity throughout the day, thereby bringing normal activities at the court to a standstill.
The Temple of Justice has been over the past two days been experiencing power failure due to the breakdown of the Judiciary’s three generators but a source noted that everything was being done to restore power supply in the shortest possible time.
Former Commerce Minister Beysolow was indicted during the February 2016 Term of Court along-side the former Managing Director of the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company (LPRC), Nelson Williams and others, ranging from economic sabotage to theft of property, criminal conspiracy and violation of the Public Procurement and Concession Act.
Their indictment stemmed from their alleged sale of the Japanese donated oil grant to Liberia, valued at US$13M.
According to the indictment, the former Commerce Minister and other co-defendants jointly conspired to rob the country and its people of benefits that could have been accrued from the sales of the oil.
However, her legal counsel Atty. Jonathan Massaquoi requested the court to grant her a separate trial following the indictment on grounds that she was out of the country performing official duties, therefore had nothing to do with the sales and proceeds of the Japanese oil.
“Your honor, you are jointly trying the defendants with the rest of the defendants when she was out of the country at the time which could be a travesty of Justice “said Atty. Masaquoi in his request for the separate trial.
But state lawyer Cllr. Daku Mulbah disagreed with the claim on grounds that whether defendant Beysolow was out of the country the responsibility for the sale of the Japanese oil was in her purview.
Following the argument pros and cons, the court presided over by Judge Emery Paye moved to grant Madam Beysolow the separate trial, stating that the need to grant the defendant a separate trial was necessary because her defenses could be antagonistic to the rest of the other defendants.
Few weeks after the court granted Madam Beysolow a separate trial, last week another motion was filed by her lawyer Atty. Massaquoi to quash the indictment against her.
In the motion Atty. Massaquoi argued that his client was out of the country and that the indictment did not state specifically the crime she committed for which she was charged therefore the court should dismiss the indictment.
While to the contrary the lawyer of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) Othello Pitman differed and told the court not to do same as doing so could set a bad precedent.
Cllr. Pitman continued “Madam Beysolow was indicted based on investigation and e-mail exchanges with her deputies while out of the country, therefore there is no need to dismiss the indictment against her”, he said .
Meanwhile, the court has set Monday as the new date for the ruling in the motion whether to dismiss the indictment against the former Commerce Minister Beysolow.