Liberia: Former Weah Cabinet Ministers Convicted in U.S.$425k Saudi Rice Diversion Scandal

Jury of Criminal Court "C" delivered one of the most consequential anti-corruption verdicts in recent history Friday, convicting three former senior officials of the George Manneh Weah administration for the criminal diversion of humanitarian rice donated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In a unanimous decision that capped a grueling 40-day trial, a 12-person jury found former Foreign Affairs Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, former Internal Affairs Minister Varney A. Sirleaf, and former Deputy Internal Affairs Minister for Administration Momolu Johnson guilty of multiple felonies stemming from the disappearance of over 25,000 bags of rice.

Presiding Judge Ousman F. Feika received the verdict.

The ruling marks the first time cabinet-level officials of the former Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government have been convicted by a jury of economic crimes.

The Verdict: Individual Liability

The court made a sharp distinction between defendants, underscoring individualized assessment of criminal liability:

Varney A. Sirleaf and Momolu Johnson were convicted on all five counts of the Grand Jury indictment:

Theft of Property

Abuse of Office

Misapplication of Entrusted Property

Criminal Conspiracy

Economic Sabotage

Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, who as Foreign Minister received the diplomatic consignment, was found guilty on multiple counts. However, the jury returned a hung verdict on two counts against him - Theft of Property and Criminal Conspiracy - meaning jurors could not reach unanimity on those specific charges. Those counts remain unresolved and are subject to potential retrial by the state.

Thelma Duncan Sawyer, former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, was acquitted of all counts, a decision that immediately blunted claims of a blanket political witch-hunt.

In total, court reports indicate seven convictions in the wider conspiracy, including former National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Executive Director Henry O. Williams, Augustine Kollie, Archievego Doe, and former General Services Agency (GSA) Deputy Edris Bility. Former GSA Director-General Mary T. Broh, originally indicted, was removed from the case after prosecutors entered a nolle prosequi in her favor.

Until the certified judgment and full jury verdict sheet are released by Criminal Court "C", published accounts contain minor inconsistencies on the precise count-by-count breakdown per defendant. This report is based on the unanimous jury announcement in open court.

At the heart of the prosecution is a humanitarian donation made in April 2023 by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: 29,412 bags of 25kg rice, valued at US$425,918.

The rice was consigned to the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for onward distribution by the NDMA to disaster victims and extremely vulnerable Liberians.

According to the Ministry of Justice and the Assets Recovery Taskforce indictment, approximately 25,054 bags - more than 85% of the consignment - were never accounted for through authorized NDMA channels. Prosecutors alleged a systemic diversion and distribution outside statutory procedure.

The charges reflect Liberia's core anti-corruption architecture under the Penal Law:

Theft of Property & Misapplication of Entrusted Property:

Prosecutors argued the defendants were fiduciaries under Liberian law. Once the rice was entrusted to the state for a specific humanitarian purpose, any conversion to private use or unauthorized public distribution constitutes a felony breach of trust

Abuse of Office (Penal Law Chapter 12): This charge targets a public official who knowingly uses his office to confer an unlawful benefit or to injure another. The state argued that Sirleaf, in his dual capacity as Internal Affairs Minister and Chairman of the NDMA Board, and Johnson as Deputy for Administration, ordered the transfer of the rice from NDMA custody without legal authority.

Criminal Conspiracy & Economic Sabotage: The most politically and legally severe. Economic Sabotage under Liberian statute elevates grand corruption to a national security offense when it involves public resources above a threshold value and undermines national development.

Conspiracy requires proof of an agreement, tacit or explicit, between two or more persons to commit the crime.

The central factual battle was not whether the rice was moved, but why.

The defense, including testimony from Sirleaf himself, contended the transfer from the NDMA warehouse in Gbarnga to GSA facilities was an "institutional arrangement" driven by logistical and storage constraints, not a criminal directive from the Foreign Ministry.

The jury rejected that argument. By returning guilty verdicts on Abuse of Office and Misapplication, jurors concluded the transfer lacked statutory authorization and constituted an unlawful exercise of official power.

Kemayah, Sirleaf, and Johnson were not peripheral figures - they were central architects of the Weah administration's domestic and foreign policy.

Their conviction provides the first judicial validation of the Boakai administration's central campaign promise: that accountability would reach the highest levels of the previous government.

For President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, the verdict is both a victory and a burden. Legal observers are already framing the next test:

"The central issue should not be whether the defendants belonged to the CDC or any other political party. It should be whether the evidence establishes criminal wrongdoing and whether the law is applied consistently to officials from every administration," one senior lawyer noted.

The CDC, now in opposition, will be forced to decide whether to defend its former ministers as victims of political persecution - a harder argument given Sawyer's acquittal - or distance itself from the scandal.

What Happens Next: Sentencing, Restitution, Appeal

A guilty verdict in Liberia is not the end of criminal procedure. The case now enters a critical post-verdict phase:

Judge Feika will schedule a separate hearing where prosecution and defense will argue aggravating and mitigating factors. Economic Sabotage and Theft of Property carry lengthy custodial sentences and mandatory restitution orders.

The court must determine financial restitution for the missing 25,054 bags, valued at over US$360,000 of the total donation.

The defense is expected to file a Motion for New Trial and Motion in Arrest of Judgment. If denied, an appeal lies as of right to the Supreme Court of Liberia. The defendants remain presumed to have appeal rights and are entitled to bail pending appeal at the discretion of the court.

While the two hung counts against Kemayah can be retried by the state or dismissed.

Beyond the courtroom, the case has exposed a critical gap in Liberia's humanitarian supply chain - the absence of a mandatory, auditable chain-of-custody protocol for diplomatic donations, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the NDMA to final beneficiaries.

For now, one fact is entered into the judicial record of Liberia: a jury found that rice donated by Saudi Arabia for the poorest Liberians was criminally diverted at the highest levels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Read the original article on Liberian Observer.