Judge A. Blamo Dixon of Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia has found nine former employees of the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company (LPRC) guilty for defrauding the Government of Liberia of over US$941,000 in revenue.
Judge Dixon adjudged the nine defendants guilty of the crimes of Theft of Property, Criminal Facilitation, and Criminal Conspiracy, for stealing US$941,895 worth of fuel and gasoline, and ordered them to make restitution of the total amount.
Additionally, Judge Dixon fined the defendants US$300 each to be deposited in the government’s coffers.
The nine defendants who were adjudged guilty of the crimes are Andrew P. Nimely, Kingston S. Sneh, Emanuel G. Garway, Robert S. Alfred, Alphonso Sackie, Beyan A.A. Cooper, John Kolubah, Peter Z. Tayn and William V. Gray.
Judge Dixon then ordered the clerk of court to address a communication to the Probation Services Department of the Ministry of Justice to conduct a pre-sentencing investigation about the defendants, whether or not they are first-time offenders or habitual offenders.
According to Judge Dixon, the evidence adduced by the prosecution in court reveals that the total loss of gasoline (PMS) is over US$725K while the fuel (DIESEL) is over US$216K, totaling it to US$941,895.1.
According to him, the controlling law of Criminal Court “C” is Theft of Property and the penalty thereof is five years’ imprisonment. The court final verdict against the defendants is, “Whether or not the prosecution established a prima facie case against the former nine employees of the LPRC of the Security Department on trial beyond a reasonable doubt to draw a logical conclusion that they are guilty of the alleged commission of the crimes of Economic Sabotage, Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Facilitation, Theft of Property and Criminal Mischief to warrant their conviction for the alleged multiple crimes levied against them?”
The Judge answered in the affirmative (Yes), stating that the prosecution established a prima facie case against the defendants of LPRC. They were indicted by the Grand Jury of Montserrado County.
