Monrovia, Liberia – The Supreme Court of Liberia has temporarily halted the high-profile economic sabotage trial against former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah and four other former officials until a conference. The ruling comes after the defense filed a petition to dismiss the case, claiming that the defendants were shielded by executive immunity and national security statutes, but the lower court denied the move.
In a case involving a dispute over the interpretation of national security laws, executive immunity, and financial oversight, the Supreme Court’s decision to halt the trial is a legal twist; according to sources familiar with the decision, the high court plans to examine whether the lower court’s decision was constitutional before permitting the trial to continue.
Citing the National Security Reform and Intelligence Act of 2011 and the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) Act of 2022 as support, the defense has consistently maintained that the defendants were acting directly under the direction of former President George M. Weah, who chaired the National Security Council, and that their actions are protected from prosecution because they fall under classified national security operations.
This claim was dismissed by Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie of Criminal Court “C,” who held that financial accountability is not entirely exempted by national security considerations. “This provision does not exempt NSRI members from legally mandated accountings within the Government of Liberia,” he said, referring to specific provisions in the NSRI Act that require financial control.
The Liberian Constitution’s Article 61, which grants immunity to the current president, does not apply to appointed officials, Judge Willie further decided. “The President will be exempt from all lawsuits, legal actions, and other processes. But if the President is removed from office for committing a crime, he will not be exempt from prosecution,” he said in his decision.
The prosecution, which is headed by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and the Ministry of Justice, maintains that this is a matter of public financial responsibility rather than national security. They argue that there are significant concerns because neither the National Security Council nor the National Joint Security nor the FIA itself asked for the transfers that Tweah approved.
The main allegations in the case are that Tweah, former Acting Justice Minister Nyenati Tuan, former National Security Advisor Jefferson Karmoh, former Financial Intelligence Agency Director Stanley S. Ford, and former FIA Controller D. Moses P. Cooper conspired to transfer L$1,055,152,540 and US$500,000 from the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) to the FIA’s operational accounts without authorization. The monies, according to the prosecution, are still unaccounted for, indicating financial wrongdoing at the highest levels of the previous government.
