The Inquirer (Monrovia)
5 March 2008
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has asked the UK government to help track down money believed to have been stolen by Liberia's ex-leader Charles Taylor. He is on trial accused of funding rebels in Sierra Leone while in office.
Mr. Taylor denies the charges, but the chief prosecutor says if he is convicted for pillage, he wants his alleged stolen millions to be returned.
"If we can get the money back to the victims, then that's a critical part of justice," Stephen Rapp told the BBC.
During Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, which officially ended in 2002, tens of thousands of people died and thousands more were mutilated, raped and had their limbs amputated.
Mr. Taylor's war crimes case has been transferred from Sierra Leone to The Hague for security reasons, although it is still being conducted by the UN-backed court.
The former Liberian president is charged with 11 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. 'Forensic evidence'
Mr. Rapp has been in London to meet with the UK government to discuss the alleged looted money which is believed to be in the region of several hundred million dollars.
"It may be even close to a billion dollars when you add together all the resources and the money that went through the Government of Liberia (GOL) when he was president," Mr. Rapp told the BBC's World Today programme.
"Indications are that some $650m was due to the people, due to the treasury - that money all flowed through his personal bank accounts," Mr. Rapp said.
Tracking down the funds was an "ongoing forensic effort", but governments around the world have been co-operative when asked for help, he said.
"If we obtain a conviction for him on pillage we're going to go forward and try to obtain the restitution orders," the chief prosecutor said.
He said the real tragedy of the war in Sierra Leone is that not enough was being done to help the victims of the war. He expressed the hope that any recovered money would go to the victim reparation programme.
He said this would go to the thousands of people who had arms and legs and sometimes ears and other body parts chopped off cruelly during the course of the conflict - and victims of sexual violence.
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