By Lincoln G. Peters
Temple of Justice, Monrovia, May 26, 2026 – The National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) has sharply criticized a recent Commercial Court ruling that awarded over US$764,000 to two former senior executives, describing the decision—and the subsequent freezing of the company’s accounts—as “using the court to return NOCAL to bankruptcy.”
The Commercial Court ordered NOCAL to pay severance benefits to former executives Vida M. Mensah and Cllr. Idella Cooper, a judgment that has already resulted in the garnishment and freezing of all NOCAL’s bank accounts. The dispute centers on executive benefits approved during the company’s boom years but later reduced amid Liberia’s economic decline.
Mensah and Cooper filed a debt action against NOCAL in 2023, claiming the company failed to fully honor a 2011 board resolution granting substantial parting benefits to senior management. NOCAL, however, insists that the benefits were lawfully reduced in response to the oil sector’s downturn and the company’s financial crisis.
Speaking to journalists, a senior NOCAL official, who requested anonymity given the company’s pending appeal to the Supreme Court, framed the lawsuit as a deliberate attempt to bankrupt the institution.
“Why did these former officials, who were at NOCAL when it went bankrupt, refuse to accept their share of the initial US$85,000 paid during the Sirleaf administration, even though some of their colleagues did? Now they see NOCAL as a milking cow and are using the court to force the company back into bankruptcy,” the official said.
Background of the Dispute
The controversy dates back to November 2011, when NOCAL’s Board of Directors approved generous severance packages for senior executives amid optimism over Liberia’s oil prospects. However, by 2015, a global collapse in oil prices and stalled exploration left NOCAL in severe financial distress. Then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf directed that senior management benefits be cut by 50 percent as part of broader austerity measures, and the NOCAL Board amended the original resolution accordingly.
Despite these reductions, Mensah and Cooper maintained that they were still entitled to the full benefits originally approved, and took legal action.
NOCAL challenged the suit, arguing it was a labor matter outside the Commercial Court’s jurisdiction, but the court allowed proceedings to continue.
After a trial, the court ruled in favor of the former executives, awarding them a combined US$764,762.
In her ruling, Judge Eva Mappy Morgan stated that NOCAL, though wholly government-owned, is a separate legal and commercial entity liable for its own obligations. The court denied NOCAL’s request to redirect the payment order to the President of Liberia and ordered enforcement of the judgment, warning that NOCAL’s President and Vice Presidents could be summoned for a contempt hearing if they failed to comply.
Escalating Legal Maneuvers
NOCAL has since announced plans to appeal and filed a bill of exceptions within the statutory period. However, attorneys for Mensah and Cooper moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing that once a notice of completion of appeal is issued, jurisdiction shifts away from the lower court.
NOCAL sought relief from the Supreme Court through a writ of prohibition, which was reportedly denied, allowing the Commercial Court’s proceedings to continue.
Further controversy erupted when NOCAL attempted to invoke a provision of Liberia’s Civil Procedure Law that allows judgments against wholly state-owned entities to be transmitted to the President for possible settlement. The Commercial Court denied this request, instead issuing a writ of execution against NOCAL.
Within hours, lawyers for the former executives secured a writ of garnishment, leading to the immediate freezing of all NOCAL’s bank accounts, leaving the company unable to operate financially as it seeks further legal relief.
