The Mayor of Monrovia and Secretary General of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Jefferson Tamba Koijee, has requested Criminal Court “A” to subpoena the erstwhile Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Cllr. Jerome Verdier, to testify in the Charloe Musu murder case and to explain to the court regarding the accusations he made on Spoon’s talk show a few hours after the incident occurred at Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott’s home.
Koijee recalled that Verdier made false and malicious accusations against him on the talk show after the incident occurred—that he was involved with the incident, requesting that Verdier be subpoenaed to tell the court and the public what he knows about the case.
According to him, he was invited by the Liberia National Police (LNP) based on Verdier’s claims, and without any written communication he went to the LNP headquarters to prove his innocence.
The Mayor’s request may be based on the fact that Verdier may have an insight into what occurred at Cllr. Scott’s home on that day, or was briefed about the incident by someone who was on the scene, for which he decided to frivolously twist the fact and levy grave allegations against his character that cannot be substantiated.
Interestingly, Cllr. Verdier is a resident of the United States, and it will require several diplomatic bureaucracies to ensure that Verdier comes to court against his will.
Mayor Koijee made the request to the Criminal Court “A” on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 when he took the witness stand after being subpoenaed by the court to explain the relationship between him, Mohammed Keita and Varlee Telleh.
The defense counsel in the case had accused Keita of being the mediator between Koijee, Telleh and Moses Wright, the security assigned to the home of defendant Gloria Musu Scott.
He denied having any relationship with Mohammed Keita, and that although he has a working relationship with Varlee Telleh he however does not know from which perspective the defense intends to know the level of communication between them.
According to Koijee, Telleh who works at the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), has never met Mohammed Keita before, and his call logs were made available to the Ministry of Justice, which are available for verification.
He said never has he known or interacted with Cllr. Scott or her family, and has no idea of the incident that occurred at her home on February 22, leading to the death of the late Charloe Musu.
Nevertheless, he acknowledged knowing Varlee Telleh who is accordingly a patrolman of the Monrovia City Police, but maintained that he has no ambiguous dealing with Telleh, as discerned by the defense. Therefore, he suggested that the GSM companies would be the best to find all details regarding his interactions with whosoever, from the time mentioned.
Koijee confirmed 0776407969 and 0779229900 as his two active numbers, one which was given to the police through the Ministry of Justice.
He said, “Let the defense counsel note that the numbers I called are my numbers being used, and another was sent to the Ministry of Justice to also investigate said matter.”
The defense however argued that one of the numbers, 0776407969, which was also presented to the police was not in active use, as indicated by Orange GSM Company.
Koijee then said he gave his official number, 0779229900, to the Minister of Justice and not 0776407969, which was presented to the police.
Koijee, during his stand, called the court’s attention to a situation that he said borders on his safety—where the defense offered him water.
According to him, this is Africa and coming in contact with a bottle presented in front of him by the defense may have the ability to harm him, and that the court should take note of anything that may happen to him.
The defense however noted that it is a usual practice that, if someone brings his witness, it is polite for the witness to be offered water to drink, and it is his right to say “thank you”.
The defense said for Koijee to become apprehensive is an attempt to become arrogant and the application made by Koijee is not a procedure; therefore, he should relax.
On the other hand, one of the defense lawyers, Cllr. Kuku Y. Dorbor, submitted to Criminal Court “A” that, while witness Koijee was on the stand he made threatening remarks, saying, “You will see.”
However, witness Koijee noted that he did not make any remark to Cllr. Dorbor, and that the accusation against him is strange and surprising.
During Wednesday’s proceeding, the defense requested Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie to subpoena one of Koijee’s contacts, which is his official government-assigned number, 0770229900, to make it available and testify to it.
According to the defense, the decision is against the fact that Koijee’s number presented to the police was said to be inactive by Orange GSM, which was granted.
At the same time, Judge Willie accepted the defense’s request to also subpoena a contact believed to be a strange number but was used in communication with the wife of Varlee Telleh as well as Moses Wright at the time of the incident.
According to the defense, the unidentified number, which Orange GSM noted is not a GSM number, 112001407, was used by Moses Wright, a security assigned at the home of Cllr. Scott to have a six-minute communication around the period of the alleged murder incident and the orange call log shows that the number had a communication around the Salvation Army School.
The defense also noted that the same number communicated with the wife of Varlee Telleh and Mayor Jefferson T. Koijee around the same incident period.
Meanwhile, the court, while granting the defense requests, said it was just that the number be subpoenaed since the defense has an interest to know who owns it, and that Orange representation has also indicated that the number’s identity can be made known if it is subpoenaed.