New Democrat (Monrovia)
24 May 2011
Convicted tellers in the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) theft case have been slapped with 38 years imprisonment each and ordered to restitute the LD7.4m they stole from the state in what represents the stiffest punishment so far for theft in this government.
But the tellers have been spared immediate jail after their lawyers took exception to the ruling and appealed to the Supreme Court. They have a ‘Criminal Appearance Bond’ that frees them from prison, but the judge, in his ruling, ordered that they should be confined within the border of Liberia pending final Supreme Court ruling, which observers believe could take months or years.
Judge Blamo Dixon further ordered the convicted tellers to pay US$300 fine each into state revenue.
Judge Dixon threw out the convicted tellers’ claim that the jury was bought to hand down a guilty verdict, along with their claim that the judge was bias.
The tellers were indicted in 2009 for encashing recycled government checks but they pleaded not guilty.
Their indictment included theft of property, economic sabotage, forgery and criminal facilitation; and they were found guilty on all counts in a unanimous verdict in Criminal Court C.
AllAfrica – All the Time
See the original article here:
38 Yrs. Jail Each for CBL Tellers