The most controversial verdict of the year in Liberia is now dictating how the next one will be tried. Former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah's controversial acquittal verdict is now dictating how the other former officials of the Weah administration will be tried for alleged corruption.
This is the case of former Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah Sr. and more than a dozen ex-officials accused of diverting 25,000 bags of Saudi-donated rice appeared Monday for arraignment at Criminal Court "C" -- and immediately deployed the legal strategy that defined the Samuel Tweah case: demand a full 15-member jury panel, including alternates, and a trial by peers.
It was a calculated, political and constitutional move.
The defense team, in a rare, unified stance, argued that even if the law would permit some defendants to waive a jury, their clients would not.
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They invoked Article 21(g) of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia, which provides:
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime except in cases of impeachment, cases arising in the Armed Forces and petty offenses, unless upon indictment by a Grand Jury; and in all such cases, the accused shall have the right to a speedy, public and impartial trial by a jury of the vicinity, unless such person shall, with appropriate understanding, expressly waive the right to a jury trial."
In Liberian criminal practice, a felony panel is typically 12 jurors with alternates. The insistence on a 15-member seated panel -- the exact composition used in the Tweah trial -- is unusual, defense lawyers conceded, but they framed it as a fundamental rights shield against selective prosecution.
The Case: $500,000 Donation, $425,918 Missing
The indictment, returned by the Grand Jury of Montserrado County and prosecuted by the Assets Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce (AREPT), alleges a humanitarian betrayal.
According to prosecutors, on April 4, 2023, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and its implementing agent Fouta Corporation Inc., donated 29,412 bags of 25kg rice valued at $500,000 to the Government of Liberia for disaster victims. cda033b4
The consignment was turned over to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) under then Executive Director Henry O. Williams.
Prosecutors allege 25,000 bags, valued at $425,918, never reached intended beneficiaries in River Cess, Margibi and other counties, but were diverted for "personal and political gain". 33b4
Those indicted include Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Mary Broh - Former Director-General, General Services Agency (GSA) and former Monrovia Mayor; Varney A. Sirleaf - Former Minister of Internal Affairs; Henry O. Williams - Former Executive Director, NDMA and Thelma Sawyer, Edris Bility, Momolu Massaquoi among others.
All were arrested June 26, 2025, and briefly held at Monrovia Central Prison, in what the government described as a parade of ex-officials.
They face charges of Theft of Property, Economic Sabotage, Misuse of Public Money, Abuse of Office and Criminal Conspiracy. All defendants are presumed innocent. The prosecution must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Judge Blamo A. Dixon previously voided bond for six defendants, underscoring the seriousness with which the court views the alleged diversion.
The Tweah Precedent: From Acquittal to Jailed Jurors
No one in Criminal Court "C" on Monday could ignore what happened there just weeks earlier.
On May 8, 2026, a 15-member jury acquitted former Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel D. Tweah Jr. and former Financial Intelligence Agency Comptroller D. Moses P. Cooper of all charges relating to the alleged illegal transfer of $6.2 million and L$1 billion under the guise of joint security operations.
It was a split verdict -- the same jury acquitted Tweah and Cooper while convicting three co-defendants on theft and criminal facilitation.
The celebration was short-lived. Three jurors filed sworn affidavits alleging breach of sequestration, unauthorized mobile phone use, and outside communication during deliberations.
In an unprecedented order, Assigned Judge Ousman F. Feika vacated the not-guilty verdict, declared a mistrial, and ordered the immediate arrest and detention of all 15 jurors at Monrovia Central Prison for contempt pending a Ministry of Justice investigation. Judge Feika ruled the integrity of the proceedings had been compromised and the acquittal could not stand.
Tweah has rejected the ruling and is appealing to the Supreme Court on double jeopardy grounds -- arguing that under Article 21(h), once acquitted, a person cannot be tried again for the same offense.
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Political and Legal Crossfire
For the Boakai administration, the rice case is a credibility test for AREPT. Taskforce chief Cllr. Edwin Kla Martin has denied selective prosecution claims, but critics from the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) argue the taskforce is targeting CDC-era officials like Kemayah, Broh, and Tweah for political optics.
For Judge Feika and Criminal Court "C", the Kemayah trial is now more than a theft case. It is a stress test of the post-Tweah reforms.
On Monday, in a striking contrast, jury selection that took days in the Tweah trial moved with unusual speed -- 10 of 15 jurors were selected in a single day. Selection of the remaining five continued Tuesday under tightened sequestration rules: no phones, isolated lodging, and daily contempt warnings.
Politically, it forces the state to try a former Foreign Minister exactly as it tried a former Finance Minister -- by peers, in public, and under the same rules that collapsed the last high-profile acquittal.
If AREPT secures a conviction, it will claim validation of its anti-graft campaign. If the jury acquits -- or if the verdict is again vacated -- Liberia will face a constitutional crisis over what a jury verdict is worth.
