Liberia corruption trial: Five officials convicted in Saudi rice case

A Liberian jury has delivered a split verdict in the high-profile corruption trial involving the misappropriation of humanitarian rice donated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Five former government officials were convicted, including former Internal Affairs Minister Varney A. Sirleaf, his former deputy Momolu Johnson, National Disaster Management Agency officials Augustine Kollie and Rosetta Gbassay Gbowah, and former General Services Agency Deputy Director Edris Bility, who was convicted of theft of property.

Two defendants, former Deputy Foreign Minister Thelma Sawyer and Wayfa Ciapha, were acquitted. The jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on charges of theft and criminal conspiracy against former Foreign Affairs Minister D. Maxwell Saah Kemayah, resulting in a hung verdict on those specific counts.

The case centers on 29,412 bags of rice donated by Saudi Arabia to support disaster relief in Liberia. Prosecutors alleged that 25,054 bags, valued at approximately US$425,918, were diverted or misappropriated from authorized distribution channels. The trial examined the movement of the commodity between the National Disaster Management Agency and the General Services Agency.