The Full Bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia on June 6, fined the Minister of Justice, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, Information Minister Ledgerhood J. Rennie and the Solicitor General-designate Nyanti Tuan US$500 each for failure to appear before the bench after they were held in contempt.
Dean and Rennie were held in contempt of court when they were expected to appear before the full Bench to show cause why they should not be held in contempt after bringing the Judiciary to public disrepute by losing the US$100 million cocaine case.
According to the Minister of Justice’s press released signed by the Minister of Information, the verdict clearly undermines the collective efforts of Liberia and its international coalition to clamp down on the illegal transit of illicit drugs using West Africa as the conduit to trade narcotics internationally from Latin America and elsewhere.
He said for Liberia to play its role effectively in this international fight against drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes associated with illicit drug transportation and sale, all three branches of the government must take this fight as a collective responsibility and not just the executive.
“If the Executive through the joint security of the country, working in concert with their international counterparts, is ramping up the strife to apprehend and bring to book illicit drug traffickers and money launderers, our drug laws must compliment such efforts through appropriate legislations, and the courts must be ready to act in conformity with the laws and gravity of the breach of our laws” Liberia’s Attorney General asserted.
He said it becomes worrisome and shameful as in the case of the recent verdict, for the courts to be setting hardcore criminals free when the evidence is overwhelming in the face of international security collaboration that tracked and brought the perpetrators of this heinous crime before the law.
However, Solicitor General designate Nyanti Tuan informed members of the Supreme Court Bench that the two Ministers held in contempt have traveled out of the country on official duties when they expected to be in court without any written excuse.
