It is becoming an issue in several quarters that the Justice Ministry and the Liberia National Police seem divided on releasing the investigation update on the alleged murder of Charloe Musu to the public.
The update should have been released at the regular press briefing yesterday, at the Information Ministry but was unceremoniously called-off in the last minutes.
This followed a more than three-hour state security meeting Wednesday, April 19, at the Justice Ministry in Monrovia which reportedly ended in a deadlock between the Justice Minister who is reportedly opposing the update on one hand, and the police and the medical team who on the other hand are willing to accept it.
But the government’s chief prosecutor, Minister Frank Musa Dean, reported that the investigation should continue while the prime suspect should not be charged or indicted based on an alleged “secondary evidence” rather on primary.
The insiders who attended the meeting explained, among many things, quoting the Justice Minister, said if the police and pathologists release the report, it should exclude former Chief Justice Gloria Maya Musu-Scott and include Alice Johnson, Gertrude Newton and others, but the police and the pathologists disagreed.
The sources who also attended the meeting and were familiar with the investigation ongoing from the onset told this paper yesterday that when Dean made the statement, and was asked by Police Director Patrick Sudue why Cllr Scott should not be excluded but the Minister did not respond instead, he walked out thereby abruptly ending the meeting.
The insiders indicated that the report had been ready over a week now but the holdup is releasing it to the public because of the disagreement.
The Justice Ministry in a statement signed and issued by the Director of Press and Public Affairs at the Justice Ministry, Maude M. Somah, said, “The Ministry hereby announces the postponement of the appearance of the police and pathologists at the ministry of information’s press conference, lasted for Thursday, April 20, 2023, to a later date.”
The release stated that the appearances were intended to provide an update on the ongoing investigation into the death of minor Charloe Musu.
For almost two months now, the police and other paramilitary have been investigating the circumstances leading to the alleged murder of Charloe on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at the Virginia Home of former Chief Justice Scott on the outskirt of the Capital, Monrovia.
Charloe’s murder led to the allegation being levied against the Monrovia City Mayor, Jefferson Koijee and one of his co-workers, Valley Telleh, as the alleged master minds or murders for which the police invited and interrogated the two.