Africa-Press – Liberia. On January 3, 2022, on the complaint of All Liberian Party (ALP), represented by its Chairman, Theodore Momo, Magistrate Jomah Jallah issued a writ of arrest for Alexander Cummings, Standard Bearer of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), and subsequently, co-defendants Daniel Naathen and Aloysius Toe, Chairman and Secretary-General, respectively of the ANC, on charges of “forgery and criminal conspiracy”. The substance of the complaint is that “the defendants…out of deception, surreptitiously altered the framework document of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP).”
On Friday, March 18, 2022, in the ongoing trial, Cllr. Abrahim B. Sillah, the Lead Defense Lawyer, drew the court’s attention to the alleged Prosecution’s “suppression of evidence which is favorable to the establishment of the innocence of the accused.” The Government of Liberia Prosecutorial Team is being led by the Solicitor-General, Cllr. Syrennius Cephas.
The Defense claimed that the Prosecution, “with intent to engage in the political persecution of Cummings, unscrupulously and unethically suppressed impeachable pieces of evidence which will undermine prosecution’s case against the accused, and testify to the baselessness of the charges”; further describing the alleged action of the government prosecution as “a grave misconduct which violates the settled practice, standard and purpose for criminal prosecution in the country.”
In denying the Defense’s claim, the Solicitor-General released a public statement in which he asserts that “it’s very shameful for anyone claiming to be a lawyer to challenge a document that has been testified to, identified, and confirmed by the witness on the stand, and then marked by the court.” Furthermore, the SG “categorically denies violating Rule 7 of the Rules of Moral Code and Ethical Conduct”.
Cllr. Sillah has clarified to FPA that the Defense’s claim of “evidence suppression” which was discovered while cross examining the Prosecution’s first witness and lead complainant, Theodore Momo, is not that the “documents testified to, identified and confirmed by the prosecution’s witness, and marked by the court” are not also from the same Chatroom of the National Advisory Council (NAC) of the CPP, but that the Prosecution intentionally omitted some pages from court’s marked exhibits “P/6” and “P/13”.
Cllr. Sillah explained that the omitted pages contained impeachable pieces of evidence favorable to the Defendants and that could be used to impeach the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses. Cllr. Sillah furthered that “P/6’’ and “P/13’’ were among the documents presented to the Defense by the Prosecution, in keeping with the orders of the court at Discovery.
However, the Defense was shocked to observe that the Prosecution intentionally omitted the pages containing these impeachable WhatsApp Text Messages before presenting the documents in court for Theodore Momo to testify to, identify and confirm them on direct examination.
“In some cases”, according to Sillah, “entire conversations have been omitted in the same chain of conversations, when all of the evidence, of both exculpatory (favorable to the accused) and inculpatory (favorable to the prosecution) in the possession of the prosecution should have been presented.”
Continuing, the Lead Defense Lawyer said, “the Prosecution should not have removed or deleted those conversations from the chain of conversations after it presented “P/6 & P13’’ to the Defense on the orders of the court.”
Adding: “The effect of the intentional omission of those material conversations is that the Defense cannot cross examine or ask Theodore Momo any question related to the omitted conversations because they are not in the said “P/6 & P13’’ testified to, identified and confirmed by Theodore Momo.
According to Cllr. Sillah, “the extracted pieces of evidence would lead any reasonable mind, or impartial investigative body, to the conclusion that the defendants have been falsely accused, the charges against them are trumped-up, and the ongoing prosecution is motivated by lies, deception and a political conspiracy against Cummings and the other accused persons.”
The Lead Defense Lawyer concluded that this is “contrary to the practice of criminal law in our country where at Discovery, the Prosecution is not permitted to withhold, suppress or extract evidence they know, or have reasons to know, do not support their charges, and or operate to prove the innocence of the accused or mitigate the sentence.” Magistrate Jomah Jallah has ordered an investigation into the defense’s claim. No timeframe has been given for the investigation.
Meanwhile, FPA has been digging into the Chatroom of the National Advisory Council of the CPP, and can independently confirm that the chain of communication with respect to reviewing, acquiring signatures, submissions and notarizations of consenting parties’ resolutions, and sharing of the Final Framework Agreement to all the parties prior to the filing with the National Elections Commissions on July 14, were omitted from “P/6 & 13’’ by the Prosecution before presenting the said documents in court for Theodore Momo to testify, identify and confirm.
FPA also found that CPP Chairman Cummings kept his colleagues consistently informed beginning with the review by the Legal Advisors of the Framework Agreement, and including reporting progress on the registration of the CPP. He was variously commended for his works during that period.
Below, we reproduce conversations from the NAC Chatroom relevant to the Framework Agreement and registration of the CPP, which according to the writ of arrest “surreptitiously” done. As previously indicated, a number of conversations were not included in the Prosecution’s submission to the Defense at Discovery, and during direct examination of its first witness:
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