The solicitor-general has prayed Criminal Court ‘A’ to recommit former House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and other accused Lawmakers in the December 18, 2024, arson attack on the Capitol Building to go back to jail.
Counselor Augustine Fayiah, claims to have suspected over the time that the previous bail bond the defendants filed contained fraud, and therefore, demands the accused return to prison.
If the court accept the chief prosecutor’s argument, Koffa and the other accused would return to the Monrovia Central Prison (MCP) until they can file a new, but valid bond to satisfy the court.
Fayiah raised “serious concerns” over the bail bond filed by former Speaker Fonati Koffa and several other lawmakers, describing the bond as “both inadequate and potentially fraudulent.”
Cllr. Fayiah: “The properties and sureties listed in the US$440,000 bond cannot be located or verified. I therefore called on the court to demand proof of the bond’s legitimacy.”
“Failing that,” the prosecution is arguing with the court to order the lawmakers back to the MCP over their alleged involvement in the burning of the Capitol Building, until a valid and lawful bond is presented.
Cllr. Fayiah made the assertion at the grounds of the Temple of Justice when he spoke to Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) “Super Morning Show” immediately after an argument into the bond on Friday, June 21, 2025.
It can be recalled that authorities at the Liberian National Police (LNP), recently charged Koffa and four other lawmakers with arson.
This means, the accused “planned and successfully executed the December 18, 2024, burning of the Capitol Building, home of the legislature.”
Koffa, considered as a master planer of the arson, and his collaborators were sent to the MCP where they spent two nights.
Thereafter, LNP forwarded the accused lawmakers to the Monrovia City Court on Monday, June 9, 2025, where they filed a bond to the tone of US$440,000 each.
The bond total US$1.8 million was filed by the accused through their legal counsels.
In the aftermath of the development, government banned Koffa and co-defendants from traveling outside the country, described them as “flight risks.”