By James T. Brooks
MONROVIA — Former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor was sent to jail Wednesday after the Monrovia City Court denied a request from her defense team for release on humanitarian grounds, following a recent medical emergency while in police custody.
Stipendiary Magistrate Ben Barco issued a writ of arrest targeting Howard-Taylor alongside three foreign nationals. The formal charges include unlicensed importation of controlled drugs, illicit trafficking, abuse of office, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, criminal solicitation, money laundering, and aiding the consummation of a crime.
Howard-Taylor, who served as vice president from 2018 to 2024, was intercepted by authorities at Roberts International Airport on Aug. 19 as she prepared to board a flight to Ghana. Following her detention at Liberia National Police headquarters, she experienced a medical emergency and was transferred under police escort to the Gomez Institute of Medical Sciences. Her legal counsel noted that the hospital transfer did not alter her status as a detainee in government custody.
Her defense team has strongly denied all allegations, labeling them baseless and politically motivated, and affirmed plans to vigorously contest the state’s case.
According to court filings, the writ traces the alleged conspiracy back to 2021, asserting that foreign nationals Sheik Bashiru Kante, Taras Zadereiko, and Mihovil Vrovac arranged to move cocaine through Liberia for onward transport to Europe. The document alleges that Kante introduced Zadereiko and Vrovac to Howard-Taylor during her term as vice president in 2022, leading to a meeting at her residence in Congo Town.
The filing further details a subsequent trip to Dubai, where Howard-Taylor allegedly met Nikola Ivancic, identified by prosecutors as the leader of the network. The writ claims she received $45,000 for shopping expenses during the Dubai meeting, followed by an additional $75,000 request fulfilled upon her return to Liberia, to facilitate using the country as a transit corridor for European drug shipments.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that charges against Howard-Taylor fall under the Controlled Drug and Substance Act, the Penal Law, and the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law. The three co-accused foreign nationals have been charged in absentia.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and Howard-Taylor retains the presumption of innocence under Liberian law.
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