Re Tolbert (Estate of)
| Jurisdiction | Bahamas |
| Judge | Blake, C.J. |
| Judgment Date | 26 July 1983 |
| Court | Supreme Court (Bahamas) |
| Docket Number | Probate Side No. 27 of 1982 |
| Date | 26 July 1983 |
Supreme Court
Blake, C.J.
Probate Side No. 27 of 1982
Mr. O. A. Turnquest and Miss C. A. E. Turnquest for the applicants.
Conflict of Laws - Administration of estate — Personal estate of deceased in Bahamas — Claim of foreign state as ultimus heres — Whether application should succeed
Up to some unspecified time in the morning of the 12th of April, 1980, the late William R. Tolbert, Junior, (“the deceased”), was the President of the Republic of Liberia. At about l a.m. of that day, he was arrested by seventeen enlisted men led by one Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe of the Armed Forces of Liberia. It appears that Master Sergeant Doe had seized power in a military coup d'etat earlier that night. Immediately following the arrest of the deceased M/Sgt. Doe announced that the Military had taken aver the affairs of the Government of Liberia, presumably for the benefit of the people of Liberia. It appears that at the same time M/Sgt. Doe took unto himself the style and title of “Chairman of the People's Redemption Council” and he was either proclaimed or assumed the title of “Head of State.”
After the deceased's arrest a series of events occurred which would be regarded by western standards as revolting, but which have recently become common place and acceptable to the consciences of certain societies in other parts of the world. M/Sgt. Doe in his capacity as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council of Liberia and Head of State of the Republic of Liberia promulgated a law known as Decree No.1. It bears the date the 12th of April, 1980, and created the offence of High Treason. In the light of what transpired later, it may be convenient at this stage to set out verbatim the terms of this Decree:–
“Decree By The People's Redemption Council Of The Armed Forces of Liberia Defining The Crime Of High Treason And Providing Punishment Therefor
It is hereby decreed by the People's Redemption Council of the Armed Forces of Liberia as follows:
1. High Treason.
It shall constitute the crime. of High Treason, a first degree felony, if:
a. by rampant corruption a public officer selfishly accumulates wealth to himself and thereby denies or negates a fair distribution of the national wealth to his fellow citizens; or
b. by means of the maladministration of Government, the common good and general welfare of the nation is: negated, stifled and hampered, thus rendering citizens helpless to bring about change through democratic process by the ballot, and thereby necessitating a military coup d'etat as the only means of liberating the people; or
(c) in contravention of the democratic process members of a political party monopolize and control political participation to the citizens of Liberia, ad thereby stifling, negating and constraining the exercise of the political rights of the citizens and thus directly or indirectly producing adverse effects to the economic and social development of the people;
(d) and an encumbent Government flagrantly manages the affairs of the State in a manner inconsistent with the Constitution and Statute Laws of the Republic of Liberia, which Constitution and laws officials of said Government took oath to uphold, but by their flagrant acts failed to respect, protect, defend and uphold to the detriment of their fellow citizens.
2. High Treason is punishable by death by firing squad or by life imprisonment or by imprisonment for a period of not less than ten (10) years and in each case confiscation of both real and personal properties of the guilty party. In the case of property held jointly, such property shall be considered to be held in common.
3. Definition
For the purpose of this Decree the following words shall mean:
a. “Corruption.” “Illegality; a vicious fraudulent intention to evade the prohibitions of the law; something against or forbidden by law; moral turpitude or exactly opposite honesty involving intentional disregard of law for improper motives.”
b. “Wealth.” “All material objects, capable of satisfying human wants, desires or tastes, having a value in exchange, and upon which human labor has been expended; the aggregate of all the things, including money, whether material or immaterial, which contribute to comfort and enjoyment.”
c. “Government.” “The Government of the Republic of Liberia.”
d. “State.” “The Republic of Liberia.”
e. “Maladministration.” “Wrong administration.”
f. “Real Property” shall mean all land with the improvement thereon held in fee the improvement thereon held in fee simple. A furnished dwelling house for the family of the guilty party and the premises on which it is constructed shall be exempted.
g. Personal property means all moneys, accounts, notes, shares, debentures, and other articles of value, except wearing apparels and household effects. Shares of stock affected by this Decree shall not be held, by the Government but shall promptly be sold to the public at large under arrangements to be made by the appropriate authority of Government.
This Decree shall take effect immediately upon the signature of the Head of State of the Republic of Liberia.
Issued this 12th day of April, A.D. 1980.
Sgd.: M/SGT. SAMUEL K. DOE
Chairman of the People's Redemption Council and
Head of State of the Republic of Liberia”
If the joint affidavit of the Honourable Isaac C. Nyeplu, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Liberia, and Mr. Momolue B. Tamba, Senior Legal Counsel in the Ministry of Justice and sworn herein on the 17th of May, 1982 is to be believed, the printer's ink on Decree No. One was hardly dry, but that the deceased was put on trial for the offence of high treason. Specifically he was charged with breaches of section 1(a), (b), (c) and (d) of Decree No.1. It does riot appear that he was furnished with any particulars of these charges in advance. For all that the report shows he learnt of them as the prosecutor made his revelations in the course of the trial. His judges were a tribunal appointed by M/Sgt. Samuel Doe and ironically described as a “Special Supreme Military Tribunal”. This special tribunal was headed by a Lieutenant Colonel, and comprised in addition three officers of the rank of “Major,” and “Captain.”
The result of their adjudication was a forgone conclusion. The deceased, according to the report of their findings addressed to His Excellency M/Sgt. Samuel Doe, was alleged to have maintained numerous bank accounts in his own name and in the names of companies which he controlled in certain banks in The Bahamas and New York City. Letters allegedly signed by him were produced to show that he had authorized the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars from his personal account in one of these banks to his relatives in the United States of America. He was alleged to have converted a grant of U.S. $20,000,000 which had been made to the Republic of Liberia in 1977 by the People's Republic of China to his own use. He was charged with violating the Constitution of the Republic of Liberia by ordering the arrest and execution of two hundred of his political opponents. The executions were supposed to have been carried out on the 14th of April, 1980, two days after M/Sgt. Doe's successful coup. It was averred against the deceased that he had instituted a system whereby only hand picked members of his own party — the True Whig Party — were eligible to offer themselves for public office thereby reducing the once great democracy of the Republic of Liberia to the despicable condition of a one party state! Finally, nepotism in appointments and business. activities was said to be the order of the day and the high infant mortality rate, the heavy incidence of illiteracy and the extreme poverty of the natives of Liberia were all laid at his door.
The report states that the deceased gave no evidence in his defence but affirmed through his counsel that he was not guilty as charged. He further declined to give any information as to the source of the funds lodged to the credit of his several bank accounts.
The Special Tribunal brought in a verdict of guilty immediately upon conclusion of the evidence. After faithfully recording the reasons for their verdict, they concluded by respectfully recommending that the deceased be sentenced to death by firing squad, that the execution be. carried out immediately, And That All of The Real And Personal Property of The Deceased Be Confiscated Pursuant To Section 2 of P.R.C. Decree No. One. (emphasis added) The joint affidavit of the Honourable Minister of Justice and Mr. Momolue B. Tamba states that immediately after the deceased was sentenced to death he was executed by a Firing Squad. We have been spared the details as to the personnel that comprised the Firing Squad.
One would have thought that if P.R.C. Decree No. One was in fact in existence before the deceased was put to death on the 12th of April, 1980, and he was in truth tried by a tribunal for its several violations, the very tribunal that tried and convicted him would have sentenced hire to death by firing squad instead of life imprisonment — in the exercise of the unfettered discretion conferred by section 2 of the Decree, and also declared that his property be confiscated as mandatorily required by the section. To my mind the fact that the Special Tribunal contented itself with merely finding the deceased guilty of high treason, and then made recommendations to the Head of State not only as to the form of punishment should take, but that his property be confiscated suggests that:–
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(a) Decree No.1 was not existence before the deceased was executed but was promulgated ex post facto to create the impression that he was put to death according to law.
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(b) The report to Ibis Excellency M/Sgt. Doe of the 12th April 1980 is not a bona fide document
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(c) The court has not been told the full truth concerning the...
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