The Grand Jury for Montserrado County has filed a formal indictment before Criminal Court ‘A’ against House former Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and more than a dozen others, who have been accused of committing multiple crimes.
The indictment, which was drawn since June 16, was returned by the Special Grand Jury to include nine charges against Koffa and his co-defendants.
It contains crimes, including arson (burning of the Capitol Building), criminal attempt to commit murder, criminal mischief, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, criminal solicitation, release of destructive forces, reckless burning or exploding, recklessly endangering another person’s life.
Individuals who have been indicted are
- Fonati Koffa, Dixon W. Seboe, Abu B. Kamara, and Jacob C. Deebie (all lawmkers).
Others are: Patience Bestman, Harrilyn Grace Johnson, Kivi Bah alias “Kaba” Jerry Pokah alias “Tyrese,” Stephen M. Broh, John Nyanti, Christian Kofa, Amos Kofa, Eric Susay, and Thomas Isaac Etheridge.
These individuals, according to the indictments, are being linked by investigations to the December 18,2024, arson attack on the Capitol Building.
It can be recalled that police in Monrovia arrested and 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.”
Koffa, considered as a master planer of the act that led to the burning of the Capitol Building, and his collaborators were sent to the Monrovia Central Prison (MCP) where they spent two nights.
Thereafter, police forwarded them 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 was filed by the accused through their legal counsels.
In the aftermath of the development, government banned Koffa and others from traveling outside the country, described them as “flight risks.”
The accused lawmakers, (all, except one, from the opposition Congress from the Democratic Change (CDC), were brought to court with tight security in place due to the party stewards’ threatening statements spread on various media outlets, including the one on facebook.