By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson, I.
According to the Liberia Revenue Authority(LRA), a Real Property Tax Bill and a Statement of Property Valuation previously submitted to the Criminal Court A” in the Capitol Building arson case did not originate from the entity (LRA) and are fraudulent, misleading, and a misrepresentation to the Court.
The hearing on the prosecution’s bill of exceptions to defendants’ bill and motion to justify surety in the arson case involving THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA BY AND THRU THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE VERSUS CHRISTIAN KOFFA, JOHN NYANTI, THOMAS ISACC, and others TO BE IDENTIFIED…..DEFENDANTS, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) on Monday, August 18, 2025 appeared before the Honorable Criminal Court A” to provide information and supporting documents to validate a request issued under a Writ of Subpoena and Ad Testificandum.
During the proceedings, the LRA noted that the determination of fraud is based on several critical observations. First, a Tax Bill with Property ID 25115, valued at US$2,800,000.00 with Bill Number 030398417, does not exist in the LRA Tax System and is therefore invalid. Second, the Tax Bill bearing the same property ID, also valued at US$2,800,000.00 and printed for 2025, is not an official LRA Tax Bill. The document attached is a decommissioned bill from December 2023, inconsistent with the current tax bill format used by the LRA.
Further, the LRA highlighted substantial discrepancies in the stated tax amount. The Tax Bill indicated a residential tax rate of 0.25 percent, showing a tax amount of US$75,000.00 instead of the correct amount of US$7,000.00. The document number 030398417 on the Tax Bill does not correspond with the actual document number for this property, confirming that Property ID 25115 is fraudulent.
Additionally, a claimed payment of US$4,500.00 on February 27, 2025, for the 2025 Tax Period is absent from the LRA system. The receipt number 594871 actually relates to a US$20.00 payment made in 2009 for a National Passport, not a property tax payment. The LRA further noted that cash payments of US$4,500.00 violate Central Bank regulations, which mandate that payments of US$250.00 and above must be made via manager check. Similarly, a receipt claiming US$10,500.00, dated July 18, 2025, shows inconsistencies with the CBL stamp dated July 16, 2025, and is therefore invalid.
The LRA also confirmed that no Statement of Property Valuation was issued for Property ID 33933, valued at US$6,000,000.00, in favor of Randolph S. Cole and Rufina J. Cole. All valid Statements of Property Valuation are stamped by the Assistant Commissioner of the Real Estate Tax Division or his designate. The submitted document lacked such a stamp, further evidencing its fraudulent nature. Moreover, the document code used, LRA/JA/AC-RETD/SPV/005/07-18/2025, was invalid and inconsistent with LRA coding standards.
The Court heard that the Tax Bill for Property ID 25115 and the Statement of Property Valuation for Property ID 33933 show inconsistencies in property identification and value. LRA clarified that for any request for a statement of property valuation, the property ID and value must match the Tax Bill in the system. The discrepancies in these documents further demonstrate the falsification.
During the hearing, the LRA presented sample authentic documents, including a 2025 Tax Bill and a decommissioned 2023 Tax Bill, showing that the documents presented by Randolph and Rufina Cole were indeed fraudulent. The LRA representative, Assistant Commissioner James A. Jabar, testified to the Court that all documents attached to the property valuation bond submitted by the Defendants were fake.
Defense Counsel objected to the inclusion of the LRA testimony, arguing that the Defense did not have the opportunity to traverse the documents. The Court overruled the Defense objection, stating that the purpose of the LRA subpoena was to confirm or deny the authenticity of the documents attached to the bond and that the testimony should remain part of the records.
The Court noted exceptions by the Defense, which were recorded. When asked to conclude on the documents, the LRA representative affirmed that the Real Property Tax Bill for US$2,800,000.00, the Statement of Property Valuation for Property ID 33933, and the accompanying receipts were all fraudulent. Payments alleged to have been made in cash violated Central Bank regulations, further substantiating the LRA’s findings.
The Court confirmed that the testimony and documents from the LRA would form part of the hearing of the Bill of Exceptions and the Justification thereto, underscoring the fraudulent nature of the documents submitted by the Defendants’ surety.
