Liberia: Court Grants Western Cluster CEO US$500K Bail
— After secretly returning the controversial Hitachi 850 machine from Bomi County to its owner in Monrovia
The Debt Court has granted US$500K bail to Western Cluster Chief Executive Officer, Chenta Sarant, for US$378K unpaid debt to Horizon Construction and Transport Company.
The debt came as a result of a Hitachi 850 equipment rental agreement between Western Cluster and Horizon. The bail comes after Sarant, under the cover of darkness, returned the machine, which is the subject of the suit, from Western Cluster’s iron ore concession site in Bomi County to Hans Armstrong, a British national and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Horizon in Monrovia.
According to the lawsuit, Citadel Mining, a Ghanaian subcontracted company by Western Cluster, in July 2022, entered into an equipment lease agreement to rent Armstrong’s Hitachi 850 heavy machine to be used on Western Cluster’s concession site, in Bomi County.
But, the suit claims, since August of 2022 up to and including May 31 2023, Citadel Mining took Armstrong's equipment to the Western mining site and began using it there without making any payment, with each month US$84K amounting to the US$378K.
And, the machine was still in Citadel Mining's possession and being used on the Western Cluster's concession area.
However, Western Cluster’s involvement with the suit is based on the doctrine of respondeat superior, where the principal is held liable for the indebtedness of the agent, now Citadel Mining, second defendant, the lawsuit argued.
“The total indebtedness of defendants in the tune of US$378K, reflecting the eight and a half months, they continue to maintain actual and physical and usage of the machine at the operational area in Bomi County. He did not know the exact location of the equipment,” Armstrong’s suit claims.
Meanwhile, Sarant before his bail release had been arrested, and as a result, his company's Monrovia and Bomi County offices were closed under court authorization. But both offices had been reopened by the court.
However, the court had been finding it difficult to arrest Citadel Mining's managing director, Nana Osei-Boadi on the grounds that he had kept himself from his offices in both Monrovia and Bomi County.
The court was also successful in closing Boadi's offices in Monrovia and Bomi County, which were also reopened after the bail was filed.