REPRESENTATION
C. 0. Ejezie Esq. for the plaintiff
Counsellor
M.
Williams
Wright, Solicitor-General, Republic
of
Liberia,
with
Counsellors Emmanuel B. James, Rose Marie B. James and A. Kanie Wesso for the
defendant.
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
SUMMARY OF THE FACTS
1. The plaintiff herein is a national of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The
defendant is a member state of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS). The brief facts of this case are as follows. On or about 9th September
2006, the plaintiff arrived in Monrovia, the capital city of the Republic of
Liberia, aboard a flight from· the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He had on his
person the sum of. US$508,200.00 which was seized by the authorities of
defendant because the plaintiff had not declared it as required by the laws of
the country.
2. Subsequently, by an order dated 30th November 2006, the Circuit Court in
Liberia formally confiscated the money. But the court's record is clear that the
order was sought for and granted without reference to the plaintiff herein. The
proceedings before this court further shows that the matter did not end with the
court order. It is clear investigations continued into the source of the money, the
purpose for which it was brought into the country as well as the ownership
thereof. The receipt from the Central Bank of Liberia dated 11th September 2006
confirms this. These investigations continued from
2006 through 2009 as
confirmed by correspondence dated 10th December 2008 (Annexure B) 27th
December 2008 (Annexure C) both of which form part of plaintiff's pleadings in
this case. By a letter dated 23rd January 2009, the defendant's Minister of Justice
and Attorney-General wrote a letter to the Central Bank of Liberia confirming that
investigations into the confiscated amount had been concluded and it was in
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