MONROVIA – A jury at Criminal Court “C” on Friday returned a split verdict in the long-running Saudi-donated rice trial, convicting five former government officials, acquitting two others, and failing to reach a verdict on the theft of property charge against former Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah.
Former Internal Affairs Minister Varney A. Sirleaf, his former deputy Momolu Johnson, and National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) officials Augustine Kollie and Rosetta Gbassay Gbowah were found guilty. Former General Services Agency (GSA) Deputy Director for Operations Edris Bility was convicted of theft of property.
Former Deputy Foreign Minister for Administration Thelma Sawyer and Wayfa Ciapha were found not guilty.
The jury deadlocked on the theft of property count against Kemayah, the most prominent defendant in the case. It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would seek a retrial. Details of sentencing for the convicted officials were not immediately available.
How the case began
The case stems from a humanitarian donation by Saudi Arabia. On April 4, 2023, the Kingdom, through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and its implementing agent Fouta Corporation Inc., donated 29,412 bags of 25kg rice valued at $500,000 to the Government of Liberia for disaster victims. Prosecutors alleged that 25,054 bags, valued at US$425,918, were misappropriated.
The rice was consigned through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then headed by Kemayah, and handed over to the NDMA for distribution. Investigators said Kemayah and Sawyer exceeded their roles at the Foreign Ministry by issuing directives on rice distribution, which fell under the NDMA’s jurisdiction. Prosecutors further alleged that Kemayah eventually transferred 13,895 bags to GSA and placed Sirleaf in charge.
The charges
The prosecution, brought by the Ministry of Justice and the Assets Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force, charged theft of property, economic sabotage, misuse of public money, property or records, illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money, misapplication of entrusted property, abuse of office and criminal conspiracy.
During the investigation, Kollie admitted that he distributed 4,282 bags without proper records and had overseen the release of another 5,000 bags, 4,000 of which were allegedly squandered by himself and Bility. Gbowah, NDMA’s former logistics officer, was accused of personally taking 1,000 bags from the 5,000 pre-positioned by Kollie.
At trial
The prosecution’s first witness offered testimony that worked in Kemayah’s favor, acknowledging that the former minister moved to halt distribution after reports the rice was being sold, and that a committee he set up found no evidence it had been sold on the Liberian market. The witness also testified that investigators visited some communities listed in Kollie’s distribution records, and representatives there denied receiving the rice.
Former GSA Director-General Mary Broh, originally a co-defendant, did not stand trial after Judge Ousman F. Feika granted a prosecution application to drop all charges against her and ordered her criminal appearance bond returned. The trial opened in August after the court empaneled 15 jurors to hear the case involving 13 former government officials.
For the Boakai administration, the rice case has been seen as a credibility test for the asset recovery task force.
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