By Grace Q. Bryant
Criminal Court “A” Judge, Roosevelt Willie, has ordered the Monrovia Magisterial Court to resume its jurisdiction over the Roots FM case.
The station owned by Henry Costa was closed by the government on allegations that it was operating without valid license and was inciting violence among the public.
In the Judge Willie’s ordered, a copy the Inquirer Newspaper possesses states, “You are hereby informed that the summary proceeding/ petition filed by the Government of Liberia/Ministry of Justice to reverse the ruling of the then Acting Stipendiary Magistrate Ernest Bana is hereby denied.”
Initially, Magistrate Bana had refused to accept the government’s argument that he should not have heard the arguments into the request filed by Roots FM that the government returns the properties seized and suppress all of their evidence.
According to the government’s response, the then General Manager, Fidel Saydee, was not authorized by the FM station’s Board of Directors to have filed a motion before the court and they requested that the Roots FM be mandated to present minutes from the Board’s meeting showing evidence that Mr. Saydee was mandated by the court.
The City Court then issued a Writ of Search and Seizure to retrieve the station’s equipment which included a mixer, microphones, headphones, computer, stabilizers and cable antennas.