In the ongoing case involving former Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel D. Tweah and four others(former officials), the jurors are yet to be selected based on personal relationships with either of the lawyers or the defendants, mostly the former MFDP Minister Tweah and defendant Jefferson Karmoh.
The failure to select the jurors came as a result of the Jury Management Team calling up the numbers of Prospective Jurors for screening and subsequent qualification with five persons at a time.
Unfortunately, all of the Prospective Jurors that were called up for questioning or screening and subsequent selection was rejected by the lawyers on both sides of the bar. Based upon this, Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie observed that only one person is leftover and that one person cannot be called out, because jurors had earlier been calling out five persons at a time and since the Prospective Jurors list for Criminal Court “C” has been exhausted, except one.
Judge Willie ordered the Jury Management Department to bring forth 26 other jurors to be added to the one already on standby to make it 27 for screening and subsequent examination in the next sitting.
Accordingly, the time being fast spent, the Court says these proceedings are hereby suspended for today (Monday) and will resume on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 9:00 am prompt. All parties being present, today’s minutes serve as Notice of Assignment.
Meanwhile, Judge Willie ordered Jury with ID Number J30-9131, who works with the National Bureau of Concession as Assistant Director for Gender to be arrested for being absent yesterday, March 3, 2025 without any cause.
He ordered the Clerk of the Court to issue out a Writ of Arrest for the Juror to appear Wednesday, March 5, 2025, prior to the calling of the case to show cause why she should not be held in Contempt and forwarded to jail for fourteen days or pay a fine of US$100.
Earlier on, Judge Willie denied the five ex-officials’ motion to rescind on grounds that the burden of proof lies on the prosecution to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, but failure on their part to prove their case, the defendants will be set free.
The defense lawyer’s motion to rescind requested Judge Willie to rescind/ or recall those subpoenas he issued on the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Ministry of Defense (MOFD), the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) because it borders around National Security issues by producing those documents will be exposing national security matter.
Arguing their side of the motion, the prosecution said that it was agreed upon during the pre-trial conferences that state lawyers would share any evidence with the defense lawyers as the trial continues.
Based on that, the prosecution has gotten the evidence needed from the CBL, MOFD and FIA and as such the defense motion should be mooted, and therefore it should be denied.
On Friday, February 28, 2025, Judge Willie Presiding over the case denied the motion to dismiss the corruption case.
The Defendants, including Tweah and other Co-defendants, had filed a motion arguing that their actions were shielded from prosecution by the National Security Reform and Intelligence Act of 2011. Specifically, they invoked sections 7(c) and 11(d) of the Act, which they argued granted them immunity for actions undertaken in the interest of national security.
But Judge Willie adjudged that the case cannot be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, based on the facts, circumstances, and the laws cited, as he wants the prosecution to be allowed to prove their case. “Hence, the Motion to Dismiss is hereby denied and the case is ordered to proceed forthwith,” Judge Willie said.
The Judge pointed out that predicated upon the actions by Mr. Tweah and others, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) through the Ministry of Justice alleged that the defendants acted outside of the privilege provided to agents of the President in Article 61 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia; and therefore, cannot enjoy the privilege for which they must answer and the only place to answer is in the court while is Criminal Court “C”.
Determining the judgment, Judge Willie ruled on two issues, which are: Are all actions, including financial transactions undertaken by members of the National Security Reform Intelligence (NSRI) exempt from Prosecution? Answering, Judge Willie said the answer to this question is an emphatic NO!, because, the NSRI Act relied upon by Mr. Tweah and others copy of which is attached to the motion filed, Section 7(C) states in part that, ‘In addition, this provision does not exempt them (members of the NSRI) from legally mandated accountings within the Government of Liberia, as he wondered why.’ According to him, the answer is unequivocally clear, in that there may be instances of impropriety of accounting for funds or actions taken by the members of the NSRI and when it happens, the only reasonable place to prove or disprove such accounting is the court.
Speaking on the second issue, whether or not these Defendants/Movants can invoke the privilege covered by the President under Article 61 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia? The answer to this question is again an emphatic NO. Criminal Court “C” Presiding Judge for the ruling stated Article 61 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia provides that, “The President shall be immune from any suits, actions or proceedings, judicial or otherwise, and from arrest, detention or other actions on account of any act done by him while President of Liberia under any provision of this Constitution or any other laws of the Republic. Continuing, the Judge stated that the President shall not, however, be immune from prosecution upon removal from office for the commission of any criminal act done while President”.
Judge Willie further said, that the first paragraph of the indictment as drawn out by the Grand Jury of Montserrado County on September 5, 2024, states that, “between the period September 8-21, 2023, from transfers instructions documents submitted to the LACC Investigation by the CBL as indicated in counts-7, 8 & 9 of the investigative report, it shows that the total amounts transferred to the Operational accounts of the FIA by the CBL as per the instruction from the MFDP are L$1,055,152,540 and US$500,000.
By T.Q. Lula Jaurey
