Liberia: Former SG Linked to U.S.$35,000 Purse

5 December 2022
The New Dawn (Monrovia)
By Jonathan Browne

-in partnership agreement with Finish Police

Former Solicitor General Cllr. Sayma Syrenius Cephus, designated by the United States Government along with two other ex-officials for significant ongoing public corruption, may not exonerate himself any time soon, as new allegation emerges, linking him to a US$35,000 deal.

Efforts to contact the former Solicitor general proved futile as both his numbers Lonestar MTN and Orange numbers were off. He could also not be reached on WhatApps. This paper learned that the former Solicitor General Syrenius Cephus is said to be currently out of the country.

However, the deal led to a mutual understanding and cooperation pact the former SG signed with Finish Judicial authorities on December 13, 2019, to allow Finish Police Investigators in Liberia to conduct witness, victim and specialists interviews, collect evidence and carry out onsite investigation during the trial of former Sierra Leonean war crimes indictee Gibril Massaquoi.

Mr. Massaquoi was subsequently acquitted of all charges after war crimes trial in Finland failed to produce sufficient evidence in court.

However, the deal surrounding the ex-SG involved three war crimes campaign groups with dubious activities that have been carrying the public face of seeking justice for victims of the Liberian Civil War.

Unimpeachable sources detail how Switzerland-based Civitas Maxima (CM), California-based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), and Monrovia-based Global Justice Research Project (GJRP), approached the former Solicitor General and allegedly offered him US$35,000 to obtain a Memorandum of Understanding from the Ministry of Justice in Monrovia that would allow Finish Police to conduct investigation in Liberia against Gibril Massaquoi during the trial in Finland.

Besides said transaction, the Global Justice Research Project was busy in Monrovia recruiting false prosecutor witnesses to testify against Mr. Massaquoi.

Document obtained by The New Dawn shows that the MOU in question was signed by former SG Cephus and Finish national Thomas Elgreen, on behalf of Finish judicial authority.

Finish judges came to Liberia in February 2021 and conducted series of investigations outside Monrovia, interviewing several purported witnesses, who claimed to be victims of alleged atrocities committed by Mr. Massaquoi, because the three suspicious war crimes campaigners (CM, CJA and GJRP) had claimed the former senior RUF rebel's official fought in Liberia.

The CM is headed by Mr. Alain Werner, while the GJRP, based in Monrovia, is headed by Hassan Bility.

They have been accused of allegedly gathering paid witnesses to testify against individuals accused of committing atrocities during the Liberian civil conflict, including Mrs. Agnes Reeves Taylor, Moses Wright, Alieu Koshia, Varfley Dolleh, and Martina Johnson, among others.

Read the original article on New Dawn.

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