Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Africa

Liberia: Police Reschedule Koffa’s Interrogation

By Lincoln G. Peters

Authorities at the Liberian National Police say, they have rescheduled the appearance of embattled House Speaker Fonati Koffa before its investigation panel.

The Embattled Speaker was scheduled to appear on Monday, March 3, as part of several lawmakers being investigated in connection to the December 18, 2024, fire outbreak at the Capitol.

Speaker Koffa along with six other lawmakers have been identified as people of interest in the investigation. The LNP invited Koffa and other lawmakers to assist in the ongoing investigation. The Embattled Speaker has since expressed his willingness to cooperate and maintain transparency throughout the process.

Augustin Sharpe, one of the LNP Communications officer told journalists via WhatsApp that Koffa’s appearance has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 5.

” Certainly, the embattled Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa appearance has been rescheduled. Cllr. Koffa was scheduled to come to the LNP headquarters for questioning, but it has been postponed to Wednesday, March 5, 2025,” Sharpe wrote in the LNP media chartroom.

Fire gutted the Rotunda of the Capitol Building here early Wednesday morning, December 18, 2024. The Rotunda is the Joint Chambers of the Liberian Legislature. Until what has now been confirmed as an arson attack, it was being used by members of the majority bloc from the House.

The fire incident occurred in the wake of an unresolved political turmoil between members of a majority bloc led by Representative Richard N. Koon on the one hand and a minority bloc headed by embattled House Speaker Fonati Koffa.

A day after the incident, Col. Coleman announced the arrest of 73 persons who were part of an Antti-government demonstration at the Capitol a day before the fire incident in addition to a dozen others considered persons of interest among them was Representative Frank Saah Foko, who embattled House Speaker Koffa also accompanied.

Also among the arrested individuals were security officers who were present on duty the night of the arson. Some were immediately released based on the information provided,

The fire did cause significant damage to the entire joint chamber.

The Investigation

Col Coleman narrated that as part of the investigation, which was jointly conducted by the police and the National Fire Service, the team analyzed the electrical system of the Capitol Building and found out that it had an automatic breaker system. The breaker switches off and shuts down the power system in the building whenever there is a shock.

He argued that up to the time the building was still in flames, the breaker did not switch off, instead it was still supplying power to the building. Col. Colman said this alone dismissed the fear of an electrical shock.

He explained that another thing investigators found out, which led to them dismissing the electrical shock fear, was that the smoke of the fire was consistent with an arson attack because it (smoke) was heavy and thick black.

Expanding on the investigation, Fire Chief Barwoul disclosed that the color of the flame on that day and the movements of the fire in separate directions of the smoke led investigators to conclude it was an arsonist attack.

The Fire Chief further explained that evidence gathered from the scene by the Liberia Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Liberia Petroleum Refining Corporation (LPRC), and their forensic team shows a container that had flammable substance within it on the scene.

Foreign experts

Col. Coleman revealed during the briefing that the government had invited foreign experts to investigate the evidence.

“So, the scene is still preserved just as it was,” he said, adding, “When the foreign experts come, they will put the icing on the cake (he suggests that the foreign experts will agree with their preliminary findings). However, from the day that incident occurred and based on the expertise on the ground, we knew that the occurrence was consistent with that of arson,” Col. Coleman said.

Meanwhile, the US Fire experts arrived last week and paid some visits to the Capitol Building.

However, Col. Coleman noted at the time that the final investigation is being done in line with criminal investigation. “In this investigation, we have sufficient evidence to speak to facilitation, conspiracy, and execution thereof, which we have evidence that the burning is arson” he stated.

Commenting on the question regarding the names of people of interest, he said that the investigation is classified for now, and they can’t disclose names, but that will be done based on the National Security Council.

“We will brief you all again fully when the briefing has been done at the level of the National Security Council, and some of our findings are declassified, and we will be able to give them out to the press,” he said. -Edited by Othello B. Garblah

E-Jazz News