|
|
Liberia: House Bribery Probe Ends
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The NEWS (Monrovia)
24 April 2008
Posted to the web 24 April 2008
Benjamin B. Sworh
Monrovia
Investigation into bribery allegation involving some members of the House of Representatives has finally ended at the Capitol.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. Armah Sarnor said the findings and recommendations would be submitted to plenary shortly.
Representatives Kertikumehn E. Murray, Rufus Gbeor, Saah Gbollie and Samuel Bono were accused by Representative Edwin Snowe of receiving bribe to remove him as speaker.
In support of his claim, Rep. Snowe provided a tape recording allegedly containing the voices of the accused in which they allegedly confessed to bribe taking to have Snowe removed.
But the accused have called on the probe committee to reject the evidence adduced by Mr. Snowe because such evidence was inadmissible before the law.
The lawmakers indicated that their privacy was invaded by Snowe because their voices were recorded clandestinely.
They contended that the secret recording of their voices by Rep. Snowe was criminal and should not be considered by the committee.
When the hearing was called Wednesday, only Representative Kerkerkumehn Murray was present, but later walked out, while Saah Gbollie and Rufus Gbeor were absent. Rep. Bono is said to be out of the country.
However, Snowe took the stand and maintained that evidence adduced should be used against the accused.
He admitted that he recorded his colleagues' voices secretly.
Snowe indicated that it was wrong for the accused to stay away from the proceedings because, according to him, under section 2.4 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the defendants should be present at all proceedings.
|
Former Speaker Snowe further noted that the absence of the defendants is an admission of guilt.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The NEWS. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
