Police authorities in Monrovia confirmed on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, that preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation into the fire incident at the Capitol Building point to an arson attack on the building.
Monrovia, January 9, 2025/ “Today, January 8, 2025, at this point, we are here to officially inform the nation that we have sufficient evidence to call the act at the Capitol Building an act of arson,” Police Inspector General Col. Gregory Coleman told journalists here on Wednesday.
Police IG Coleman, flanked by the Director General of the Liberia National Fire Service, G. Warsuwah Barvoul, told journalists that they had already identified the suspects in the arson attack and that contacts had been made with messages sent for them to come forward.
“Those people of interest have been reached and sent clear messages to come in and continue the investigation, and if they don’t show up, they will be arrested. We will not tolerate such lawlessness,” IG Coleman added.
“Those who did the act know themselves,” he said, “and so, I hope that they will start to come in because, if they don’t come or corporate, we will go for them,” Col. Coleman went on.
Fire gutted the Rotunda of the Capitol Building here early Wednesday morning, December 18, 2024. The Rotunda is the Joint Chambers of the Liberian Legislature. Until what has now been confirmed as an arson attack, it was being used by members of the majority bloc from the House.
The fire incident occurred in the wake of an unresolved political turmoil between members of a majority bloc led by Representative Richard N. Koon on the one hand and a minority bloc headed by embattled House Speaker Fonati Koffa.
A day after the incident, Col. Coleman announced the arrest of 73 persons who were part of an Antti-government demonstration at the Capitol a day before the fire incident in addition to a dozen others considered persons of interest among them was Representative Frank Saah Foko, who embattled House Speaker Koffa also accompanied.
Also among the arrested individuals were security officers who were present on duty the night of the arson. Some were immediately released based on the information provided,
The fire did cause significant damage to the entire joint chamber.
The Investigation
Col Coleman narrated that as part of the investigation, which was jointly conducted by the police and the National Fire Service, the team analyzed the electrical system of the Capitol Building and found out that it had an automatic breaker system. The breaker switches off and shuts down the power system in the building whenever there is a shock.
He argued that up to the time the building was still in flames, the breaker did not switch off, instead it was still supplying power to the building. Col. Colman said this alone dismissed the fear of an electrical shock.
He explained that another thing investigators found out, which led to them dismissing the electrical shock fear, was that the smoke of the fire was consistent with an arson attack because it (smoke) was heavy and thick black.
Expanding on the investigation, Fire Chief Barwoul disclosed that the color of the flame on that day and the movements of the fire in separate directions of the smoke led investigators to conclude it was an arsonist attack.
The Fire Chief further explained that evidence gathered from the scene by the Liberia Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Liberia Petroleum Refining Corporation (LPRC), and their forensic team shows a container that had flammable substance within it on the scene.
Foreign experts
Col. Coleman revealed during the briefing that the government had invited foreign experts to investigate the evidence.
“So, the scene is still preserved just as it was,” he said, adding, “When the foreign experts come, they will put the icing on the cake (he suggests that the foreign experts will agree with their preliminary findings). However, from the day that incident occurred and based on the expertise on the ground, we knew that the occurrence was consistent with that of arson,” Col. Coleman said.
He noted that the final investigation is also being done in line with criminal investigation. “In this investigation, we have sufficient evidence to speak to facilitation, conspiracy, and execution thereof, which we have evidence that the burning is arson’’ he stated.
Commenting on the question regarding the names of persons of interest, he said that the investigation is classified for now, and they can’t disclose names, but that will be done based on the National Security Council.
“We will brief you all again fully when the briefing has been done at the level of the National Security Council, and some of our findings are declassified, and we will be able to give them out to the press,” he said. -Editing by Othello B. Garblah
