MONROVIA -- One night in Monrovia Central Prison was all it took to draw in the Supreme Court. A day after former Executive Mansion Chief of Protocol Nora Finda Bundoo was committed to the facility, the Court on Tuesday ordered her freed and summoned the judge who jailed her to explain himself.
The order, signed by Clerk of the Supreme Court Cllr. Sam Mamulu on the authority of Associate Justice Yussif D. Kaba, directs Criminal Court "C" Judge Ousman F. Feika to release Bundoo to her lawyers while the Court weighs her petition for a writ of prohibition. Kaba, sitting in Chambers, has cited Feika to a conference on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 3 p.m.
Bundoo's release carries conditions. She must surrender her passport to the sheriff of Criminal Court 'C' and remains under the court's jurisdiction until the Supreme Court rules. The Court instructed Feika to hand her to counsels Cllr. M. Watkins Wright and Cllr. Abraham Wade Simpson.
The petition names Feika as first respondent and the Republic of Liberia as second respondent, the latter acting through the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force under Chairman Cllr. Edwin K. Martin and the Ministry of Justice. A writ of prohibition is an extraordinary remedy that asks a higher court to stop a lower one from acting beyond its authority.
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The intervention marks a sharp turn in a case that has gripped Liberia's courts and politics. Feika had denied Bundoo's second bid to approve her criminal appearance bond after AREPT prosecutors challenged the sufficiency of her sureties and supporting documents. He then ordered her re-arrest, and she was escorted from the Temple of Justice to prison.
Prosecutors accuse Bundoo and several co-defendants of misappropriating and laundering millions of U.S. dollars in public funds, and they argue the gravity of the charges demands strict compliance with the bond rules.
The petition asks the Supreme Court to freeze proceedings in Criminal Court "C" until it decides whether Feika acted lawfully in denying bond and jailing her. The Aug. 4 conference will let both sides argue before the Court rules on the writ.
The order does not dismiss the charges or acquit Bundoo. It is an interim measure to hold the case in place while the Court examines whether the trial judge acted properly. A grant would suspend the criminal proceedings; a denial would send the case back to Feika.
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The outcome could reshape one of Liberia's most closely watched corruption prosecutions and test the Supreme Court's supervisory reach over the trial courts, particularly on the handling of criminal appearance bonds.
