The Government of Liberia is vigorously gathering evidence to prosecute the former Managing Director of the Roberts International Airport (RIA) Ms. Ellen Cockrum, who is wanted here for corruption allegations.
Ms. Ellen Cockrum, Former Managing Director of the Roberts International Airport (RIA)
Ms. Ellen Cockrum recently left Liberia for the United States where she currently resides after she was booked for alleged corruption and subsequently dismissed.
The government here has accused her of misappropriating more than US$500,000, awarding state contracts to her boyfriend, including a fictitious foreign company called Diaspora International as well as violating laws governing the Public Procurement Concession Commission(PPCC), and the Public Financial Management (PFM).
Liberia's Solicitor-General, Cllr. Betty Lamin Blamo says the Ministry of Justice has ample and sufficient evidence to prosecute Ms. Cockrum, and that government would pursue an Extradition Treaty between Liberia and the United States of America to get her here for prosecution.
But a US-based Liberian columnist has cautioned that the Liberian Government should critically evaluate the prospect of having Ms. Crockrum extradited from the US by first establishing whether an extradition treaty actually exists between the two countries, citing instances where previous Liberian administrations had been unable to win extradition pleads in US courts against Liberians wanted home to face justice.
The author established that a Treaty of Extradition was signed in Monrovia between the Republic of Liberia and the United States of America on November 1, 1939, and ratifications were exchanged in Monrovia on November 21, 1939.
"It is agreed that the Government of the United Sates and the Government of the Republic of Liberia shall, upon requisition duly made as herein provided, deliver up to justice, any person who may be charged with, or may have been convicted of, any of the crimes or offenses specified in Article II of the present Treaty committed within the jurisdiction of one of the High Contracting Parties, and who shall seek an asylum or shall be found within the territories of the other; provided that such surrender shall take place only upon such evidence of criminality, as according to the laws of the place the fugitive or person so charged shall be found, would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial if the crime or offense had been there committed".
Article II of the Treaty enumerates the crimes or offenses under which a fugitive would be duly charged by the High Contracting Parties, but the Liberian columnist wonders to what extent this Treaty has been implemented in the more than 70 years of its existence, noting that what had happened is that relations between the two countries in regard to the Treaty appear to exhibit and lay bare a lopsided and an asymmetrical nature since it cannot be established whether Liberia in the life of the Treaty has ever extradited a fugitive from the US to face trial in Liberia.
He added that in actual fact, the US has had the advantage under the Treaty, citing examples where individuals arrested in Liberia, who were attempting to use Liberia as a transit corridor to transport drugs to the United States, were extradited to stand trial in the US.
In the case of Liberia, the author provided two instances in which Liberia failed to extradite CHAN KAM-SHU, a fugitive from the Justice of the Republic of Liberia, United States Appellant, v. Chan Kam-Shu, Appellee, (477 F.2d 333 United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit) when the US District Court granted the writ of habeas corpus and ordered the release of Chan for deportation, but subsequently "found that Liberia had not timely produced the formal extradition papers pursuant to Article XI of the Treaty."
On January 30,1972, Chan was member of the crew of a Liberian Flag Vessel, the "Silver Shelton." It was alleged that he fatally stabbed another crew member, and the vessel requested assistance from the US Coast Guard, fearing that Chan would not be safe on board the ship after stabbing a popular crew member, who later died in a US hospital.
However, Chan was arrested by the US Government and incarcerated. The US Government informed the Liberian Government about the matter, and on March 27, the Liberian Government requested the US authorities to extradite Chan to Liberia for trial on a murder charge.
On May 22, Liberia deposited with the State Department a duly certified, authenticated, formal extradition request, but after spending some time in incarceration, Chan filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which was granted.
Another example perhaps the most recent involving an attempt by Liberia to have her citizens extradited here for prosecution was the Charles Taylor's (then GSA Director) case. Taylor's extradition was sought by the Liberian Government during the regime of the late Samuel Doe.
Taylor was arrested by US authorities, and extradition proceedings initiated against him, and a ruling was made to extradite him to Liberia, but he somehow managed to escape prison in America.
The writer therefore stressed that In the Ellen Cockrum scenario, it is important to know whether a request for the extradition of Ms. Cockrum has already been submitted to the US Government, cautioning that a mere public statement here that the Government of Liberia has sufficient evidence to extradite Ms. Cockrum is insufficient to get the alleged fugitive to stand trial in Liberia.
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