Africa-Press – Liberia. Defense lawyers in the ongoing US$100 million cocaine case are asking Criminal Court ‘C’ judge, Blamo Dixon, to subpoena the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), National Port Authority (NPA), APM Terminals, and others to testify in the case.
Cllr. Micah Wilkins Wright, who represents the defendants, has submitted an application for the court to issue two subpoenas, subpoena duces tecum to instruct witnesses to bring in handbooks, papers, or evidence, and the other, subpoena ad testificandum, to appear and give oral testimony for use at the trial.
The application to Dixon sought the court’s approval to allow the FIU and others, including James Hinneh, as well as the publisher of the New Dawn Newspaper, Othello Gablah, to testify as witnesses in the US$100 million cocaine trial.
“Defendants submit that the individuals and institutions they seek to subpoena are in exclusive possession of information relevant to this case. Moreover, their testimony is necessary to ensure that defendants’ constitutional right to present a complete defense is safeguarded,” according to the lawyer.
Immediately after the submission was made, Judge Dixon, in response, said, “The application of the defense for the issuance of two writs of subpoena duces tecum and subpoena ad testificandum, on the individuals and institutions being named, is hereby granted.”
Dixon further said the subpoena witnesses would only be called to testify after the defense team had concluded with the ongoing testimony of the defendants.
“This is the time the court will set the date for the appearance of the subpoena witnesses,” Dixon added.
It is anticipated that, when called as a witness, FIU will testify focusing on its investigation that led to the freezing of all of the accounts of TRH Trading Company on allegations of tax evasion activities, and the subsequent shipment and seizure of the cocaine, at its rented facility on the SONIT Liberia Inc. compound in Topoe Village, the center of the trial.
FIU will also testify on the TRH’s clearing of its containers on mere invoices and bills of lading without going through the proper customs inspection, which also includes physical inspection as is legally required for proper taxation.
Despite their tax evasion activities that coincide with the arrest of the US$100 million cocaine at their facility, TRH is not among those on trial, instead, it has been used by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), as a whistleblower.
Besides, the containers in question were shipped by Castrolanda Cooperativa in Brazil and loaded at the port of Itajai on August 23, 2022, before being forwarded to Maersk Line Liberia Limited with TRH Trading Company as the consignee.
But the ministry wants the jurors to believe that TRH absolutely has nothing to do with the cocaine, even with a shipment document naming the company as the consignee.
For Customs Brokers Union President Hinneh, his testimony is expected to focus on his press conference dated October 20, 2022, just after the arrest of the cocaine at TRH’s trading facility.
During the conference, Hinneh accused TRH Trading of being behind the importation of the consignment of drugs brought into the country and blamed the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for allegedly aiding the process.
Mr. Hinneh went on to say that the bill of lading document validates the specific owner of a particular consignment or container, including the CTN certificate as well as the invoice from APM Terminals, which all proved that the consignment was brought into the country by TRH.
According to him, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry allegedly provided an undue privilege to TRH Trading, something that led to the huge consignment of cocaine smuggled in, bypassing Customs Brokers at the Freeport of Monrovia.
It was the story published by the New Dawn Newspaper that led to Gablah’s subpoena.
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