Liberia: Kailondo’s US$930K Suit against GT Bank Delayed

It seems that the Criminal Court'C' may likely not be able to conclude with the US$950,500 criminal lawsuit filed by Counselor George B. Kailondo against the Guaranty Trust Bank, during this March 2022 Term of Court.

While the case was going on smoothly, with Cllr. Kailondo himself having taken the witness stand and testified in the matter, it came to a temporary halt on a request by Judge Ciapha Carey asking the prosecution to produce the original copy of a controversial Restated Articles of Incorporation of Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated, a company owned by Cllr Kailondo.

Restated Articles of Incorporation are used to consolidate, into one document, all the amendments made to a corporation’s articles since its creation. 

The Restated Articles of Incorporation of Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated is a very important documentary evidence to the case because Kailondo is claiming to have consolidated his Kailondo Group of Companies, which includes eight different companies, including the Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated on March 9, 2021, about seven years after he had used the business registration of the Kaililondo Group of Companies to apply for a letter of credit to the bank for the amount of US$3 million, in 2014,  of which document the bank is claiming that they are not aware of.

The bank's argument is that during the 2014 arrangement for the letter of credit, it was managed by the late Dan Orogun, a Nigerian.

About five years since Orogun died by drowning on Sunday, January 24, 2016, in a boating accident while visiting with Kailondo, at a resort along the Robertsfield Highway.

But Kailondo, in his criminal suit, claimed that the bank’s management team, then headed by the late Orogun, organized a scheme or syndicate on April 24, 2015, that criminally withdrew from his account the amount of US$930,500.

It is the original copy that the court is requesting the prosecution to produce for the resumption of the trial.

Up to the publication of this story, it is unclear as to whether the prosecution have provided the original copy of the restated Articles of Incorporation of Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated to the court, as requested by Judge Carey.

Surprisingly, while the status of the original copy of the Restated Articles of Incorporation of Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated still pending, the prosecution appears to have abandoned the GT Bank case.

This is because the prosecutors have made Judge Carey to currently preside over another Kailondo case, this time against the Global Bank Limited, involving $4,253,000, in the same court where the GTBank case is pending.  All of this is happening without any clear information about the original copy of the restated Articles of Incorporation of Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated. 

This is a clear indication that the GTBank case will not be heard in this March 2022 Term of Court, because the term is expected to conclude by the end of April 2022, seeing as the Global Bank Limited case has just resumed.

During his testimony, the prosecution, representing Kailondo himself, asked Kailondo: “Mr. Witness, one of the documents — that is the restated Articles of Incorporation of Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated — appears to be a photocopy. Please state if you know the whereabouts of the original copy?”

In response, Kailondo said, “it is with one of the shareholders that we have, living in the United States of America.” 

Kailondo did not disclose the identity of the shareholder in the US, when he testified.

Despite Kailondo’s response that the original copy is with one of his shareholders, it is not also clear on what basis the case has not yet begun.

Meanwhile, the prosecution is still finding it difficult to obtain the original copy of the restated Articles of Incorporation of Kailondo Petroleum Incorporated from the shareholders in the US.