By: R. Joyclyn Wea
MONROVIA-The Attorney General of the Republic of Liberia and the Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) are expected to appear before the Full Bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia today.
The two officials of government are cited by the high court to give reasons why they should not be held in contempt by the high Court. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country and its judgment is bidding.
In a separate communication dated May 30, 2023, under the signature of Cllr. Sam Mamulu, Clerk of the Honorable Supreme Court, the high court mandates the appearance of Minister Ledgerhood J. Rennie and Cllr. Frank Musa Dean is to appear before the court on today June 6, 2023, for utterance made against the judiciary in relation to the historic hundred million cocaine case.
Both cabinet members will appear with their lawyers who will give reasons why the high court should let their clients get away with their statements against the Judiciary.
Today, the court might either suspend Cllr. Musa Dean who is a member of the Supreme Court Bar, fines him or free him. On the other hand, Rennie might get fined or freed depending on how their lawyers will make their case.
It can be recalled that on May 22, 2023, the Liberian authorities said they had lost track of the four men recently tried and exonerated after the seizure of US$100 million Dollars’ worth of cocaine, pointing accusing figures at the Liberian Judiciary.
A Criminal Court in Monrovia caused a stir on May 18 by finding not guilty a Liberian, a Bissau-Guinean, a Portuguese, and a Lebanese man arrested in connection with the seizure, in October 2022, of 520 kilos of cocaine with an estimated value of US$100 million dollars, concealed according to the authorities in a container from Brazil.
The judgment by a popular jury was all the more surprising as the court ordered the return to the suspects of US$200,000 seized during the operation.
The court’s decision “makes Liberia an international laughingstock,” Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean said in a statement on May 22, 2023. It “clearly undermines the collective efforts of Liberia and its international allies to combat the illegal transit of illicit drugs, and the use of West Africa as a conduit for international trade from Latin America and by the way,” Dean added.
“They can’t be found. We don’t know where they are. They fled,” Information Minister Ledgerhood Rennie told AFP, confirming the Justice Minister’s remarks.
The defendants had attracted attention by trying to buy the container from the businessman who owned it, the Justice Minister reported. Their acquittal has sown indignation or perplexity on social networks. “The case accredits the widespread perception locally and abroad of an inherent compromise in justice and the courts”, admitted the Minister of Justice.
This statement is now hurting both officials, as they have been summoned by the Supreme Court to account for such comments against that branch of government.
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