William Grant Jlopleh, the Central Bank of Liberia's Director of Banking and the prosecution's second subpoenaed witness, testified in Criminal Court 'C' that the Minister of Finance and Development Planning does not approve payments in a personal capacity.
But. under the Government of Liberia (GOL) consolidated-account mandate on file at the CBL, any instruction must carry at least two authorized signatures--drawn from the Comptroller-General, the Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs, and the Minister before the bank can lawfully act.
Jlopleh told the court yesterday that when a government account is opened, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) submits a mandate card and specimen-signature card setting out who may sign and the signing thresholds.
The CBL's role, he said, is "ministerial": verify signatures against the mandate and, if the instruction is in order, execute the transfer as directed by the MFDP on behalf of the GOL.
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Jlopleh testified that for the consolidated account at issue, the listed signatories were then-Comptroller-General Janga A. Kowo, Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs Samora P. Z. Wolokolie, and Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah Jr.; the mandate required a minimum of two of those three signatures.
"A single official--including the Minister--cannot unilaterally direct the bank to debit a government account or transfer funds," Jlopleh testified.
Prosecutors allege that three letters dated September 8, 19 and 21, 2023, addressed to then-CBL Governor J. Aloysius Tarlue Jr. authorized moving money from the GOL consolidated account to operational accounts of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA).
The amounts cited are L$1,055,152,540 (about US $ 5.6 million) and an additional US$500,000; the transfers occurred between September 8-22, 2023.
The indictment, brought by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) through the Ministry of Justice, charges economic sabotage, theft of property, money laundering, misuse of public money, criminal conspiracy and criminal facilitation.
The subpoena duces directed the CBL to produce the originals of the three letters purporting to bear the signature and approval of Samuel D. Tweah Jr.
The prosecution contends the letters drove the transfers; the defense disputes the characterization and legal effect.
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Tweah is standing trial with four other former officials of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration: Cllr. Nyenati Tuan (former Acting Justice Minister/Solicitor General), Stanley S. Ford (former FIA director), D. Moses P. Cooper (former FIA comptroller), and Jefferson Karmoh (former National Security Adviser to President George Weah).
Earlier testimony from LACC program manager Baba Mohammed Boika alleged the transfers were authorized by Tweah and that Kowo and Wolokolie said they acted on ministerial instructions without questioning the purpose.
CBL officials have maintained the bank's role is limited to executing authorized transactions after verifying signatures and funds availability.
The case has bounced between courts. After defense motions citing national-security authority and immunity were rejected by the lower court, the Supreme Court of Liberia cleared the way for Criminal Court 'C' to proceed, holding that presidential immunity is personal to the president and does not extend to subordinates.
Legal practitioners said Jlopleh's evidence frames the CBL's function as verification and execution under a two-signature mandate--meaning any lawful debit from the GOL consolidated account required joint authorization, not a unilateral ministerial directive.
Jlopleh's testimony also h emphasized that the paperwork points to a chain-of-command approval (with Kowo and Wolokolie as co-signatories) rather than a single-handed act by Tweah.
The prosecution's documentary case also relies on FIA records; a recent FIA witness told the court the agency could not locate the specific documents subpoenaed, a development defense lawyers say undercuts the state's paper trail.
