Three of the five ex-officials of government who were arrested, charged and jailed at the Monrovia Central Prison (South Beach) for four nights based on multiple crimes have been released from further detention.
The Criminal Court “A” ordered from further detention the release of the living bodies of Cllr. Nyanti Tuan, D. Moses P. Cooper and Jefferson Karmoh, charged with the commission of the crimes of Economic Sabotage, Misuse of Public Money, Property or Record, Theft And/Illegal Disbursement and Expenditure of Public Money, Theft of Property, Criminal Facilitation and Criminal Conspiracy, and bring them before that honorable court based on the bail bond filed.
The release which was signed by J. Gabriel Smith, Clerk of Court “A,” mandated the sheriff to further make official returns to the office of the Clerk of Court, stating his manner and form of service with signature endorsed thereon the back of the original, which shall constitute his legal and sufficient authority.
Our judicial reporter gathered from a source that the former officials of President George Weah’s administration filed a valid criminal appearance bond in the tune of US$50,000, since all of the charges are billable offenses.
Defendants Cllr. Nyanti Tuan, former Solicitor General, Jefferson Kemoh, former National Security Advisor, and D. Moses P. Cooper, former Comptroller at the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) release from prison came about as their lawyers filed a Writ of Mandamus against Magistrate Ben Barco of the Monrovia City Court, compelling him to approve the bail bond after which he (Magistrate Barco) transferred the case to Criminal Court “A” for indictment.
A Writ of Mandamus is a special judicial remedy system consisting of a court order that commands a government official, entity or judicial actor to perform an act that is legally required to do as part of his/her official duties or to refrain from performing an act the law forbids from doing which is provided for by Chapter 16, Section 16.21 of the Civil Procedure Law of Liberia.
Based upon this, the Assigned Judge of Criminal Court “B,” J. Kennedy P. Peabody approved Cllr. Tuan, Cooper and Kemoh’s US$50,000 bond and ordered their temporary release following the Chambers Justice, Yusuf D. Kaba’s intervention.
Before Judge Peabody’s action, the three defendants through their lawyers accused Magistrate Barco of violating their constitutional rights when he (Barco) refused to approve their bond proffered before him (Barco) but transferred it to Criminal Court “A.” They added that Criminal Court “A” Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie is out of the bailiwick of Liberia.
At the same time, former Finance Minister, Samuel Tweah and Stanley S. Ford remained on the run/at-large as they are yet to come under the jurisdiction of the court.
