The Monrovia City Court has arrested Liberia’s Ambassador-Designate to France, Teeko Tozay Yorlay, on charges of criminal coercion and disorderly conduct. The arrest stems from allegations that Yorlay, in 2022, used his Facebook page to post defamatory messages accusing Wilmot Smith, the former Deputy Director General for Information Coordination at the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), of being a “criminal.”
Following his arrest, Yorlay was formally charged but released after the intervention of his lawyer, Cllr. Kabineh Ja’neh.
According to court documents, in April 2022, Yorlay, “without any color of legal right,” wrote on his Facebook page: “You’re a criminal, you have stolen the LISGIS Census money. Criminality is in your DNA. Anywhere you go, you must steal. The public should take note of this criminal, not to accept him before he goes on with this criminality.”
Government lawyers argue that Yorlay’s remarks tarnished Smith’s reputation, subjected him to public ridicule, and impaired his professional standing. They further described the act as unlawful, wicked, and intentional, citing violations of Sections 14.27 and 17.3 of Liberia’s Penal Law. The writ emphasizes, “There and then, the crimes herein Defendant did and do and commit.”
This arrest is linked to a broader libel case involving Smith and others regarding a US$700,000 lawsuit over alleged improper disclosure of financial information. The ongoing case accuses Ecobank-Liberia, Yussif Kromah (an employee of the bank), Alex Williams (former Deputy Director General for Statistics and Data Processing at LISGIS), and activist Martin Kollie of conspiring to defame Smith.
Smith alleges that Ecobank released details of LISGIS’s account statements to Williams and Kollie, who then shared the information on Spoon Network and social media. The documents were allegedly manipulated to claim that Smith illegally withdrew millions of U.S. dollars intended for payment of census enumerators. The funds were purportedly transferred by Ecobank to Smith’s account in Côte d’Ivoire.
The libel case is currently before Judge Scheaplor Dunbar of Civil Law Court Annex ‘B’. Proceedings had been temporarily suspended by Chamber Justice Yarmie Quiqui Gbeisay after Ecobank filed a writ of certiorari, which was ultimately denied. The case is set to resume today.
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Source link : https://allafrica.com/stories/202501280283.html
Author : [email protected] (Liberian Observer)
Publish date : 2025-01-28 09:49:28
