MONROVIA, Montserrado – The chairman of the special presidential taskforce formed to investigate bribery allegations in response to the recent Global Witness report has announced that the body has already compiled more than 700 pages of evidence in preparation for additional indictments.

Addressing a Ministry of Information press briefing on Thursday, J. Fonati Koffa said an additional indictment of those mentioned in the Global Witness report will be announced as early as next week.

House Speaker Alex Tyler and Senator Varney Sherman have both already been indicted by the chief prosecutor and County Attorney of Montserrado J. Daku Mulbah for allegedly receiving and facilitating bribes on behalf of Sable Mining, a British mining company.

According to Koffa, the taskforce has already interviewed more than 12 persons in the country and abroad in continuation of its work, although he failed to disclose the names of those interviewed.

Koffa noted that those who are already indicted had either refused to cooperate or attempted to obstruct justice by trying to deceive members of the taskforce.

He maintained that in addition to investigating the Global Witness report, the taskforce would also concentrate on General Auditing Commission audits dating from the administration of Auditor General John Morlu.

“The taskforce will focus on the allegations of wrongdoing of misappropriation of funds by individuals contained in the GAC reports which have not been investigated by the Ministry of Justice due to the limited capacity of statutory agencies involved,” he said.

Koffa said the Ministry of Justice would now take over in prosecuting the ongoing trials against Sherman and Tyler.

“This decision does not in any way suggest that the taskforce is no longer interested in the alleged Global Witness report bribery cases involving current and former government officials,” Koffa stressed.

Featured photo by Flickr’s amanda