Liberia: Jurors Who Cleared Liberia's Ex-Finance Minister Smuggled Phones, Plotted Cover-Up, Court Probe Finds

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a report by The Liberian Investigator, said a court-ordered probe in Monrovia found that jurors who acquitted former Liberian Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah Jr. violated sequestration rules by bringing mobile phones and SIM cards into their quarters, contacting people outside and later trying to deny the misconduct. The report, dated July 22, 2026, says the findings have intensified scrutiny of the verdict in a major corruption trial involving the former minister.

According to the publisher, the investigation compared jurors’ sworn statements with phone records and other evidence. It identified Juror George Dennis as an alleged organizer of a cover story that jurors had not used phones during sequestration. The report says that account was challenged after Juror Catherine Quawah recorded a conversation with Dennis about what jurors had agreed to say; Dennis later acknowledged the voice was his.

The report also named several other jurors whose testimony was allegedly contradicted by call records. Arnold Vincent was accused of falsely claiming his phone had been stolen, while Johnathan Bundoo, Lucy T. Menyongai and Maximum Dillon were described as having denied phone use despite records or testimony indicating calls or messages during sequestration. Quawah and Cynthia Sarplah were cited as giving fuller accounts of how phones entered the jury setting, including one allegedly left in a courthouse bathroom.

Tweah rejected the court development in a social media response quoted by the report, calling the ruling illegitimate and saying he would not recognize further proceedings. The matter is significant because jury sequestration is intended to protect deliberations from outside influence, and the reported findings could affect how the court handles the acquittal and possible sanctions.