By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
Prosecution first expert witness in the US$500,000 property valuation bond filed for the jailed defendants in connection with the December 2024 alleged arson attack on the Capitol Building, testified yesterday claiming that the bond is fake.
Assistant Commission for Real Estate Tax, Mr. James A. Jabar, in his testimony said, they reviewed the Real Property Tax Bill and the Statement of Property Valuation and realized that they did not originate from the LRA, “and are hereby fraudulent, misleading and misrepresentation to the Court.”
The joint property valuation bond of US$500,000, backed by sureties Randolph S. Cole and Rufina J. Cole, was approved by Judge Roosevelt Willie of Criminal Court ‘A’.
Further to his testimony, Jabar said determination of the fraud is based on the following observations:
- The Tax Bill with the Property ID, which PID 25115 valued US$2,800,000.00 (Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) with Bill Number 030398417 does not exist in the LRA Tax System and therefore, it is not valid;
- The Tax Bill bearing the same property ID, 25115, valued US$2,800,000.00 (Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) and printed for 2025 is not an official LRA Tax Bill from its current system. The Tax Bill attached shows a decommission bill from December, 2023, which is inconsistent with that of the current tax bill being used by the LRA.
- The Tax Bill bearing property ID 25115 valued at US$2,800,000.00 (Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) with a residential tax rate of 0.25 percent shows US$75,000.00 (Seventy-Five Thousand United States Dollars) as Tax amount instead of US$7,000.00 (Seven Thousand United States Dollars).
“This is an indication of wrongful tax amount, which is a substantial discrepancy in figure,” he told the court.
“I hold in my hand a copy of the Tax Bill that was submitted for our review and you can see on this dashboard, property ID 25115, residential as a classification, value of this tax bill for the property worth US$2,800,000 with a residential tax rate of 0.0025%, that means if you multiply the tax rate of 0.0025 by the value of 2,800,000.00, you should have the tax amount of US$7,000.00 and not US$75,000.00 stated here,” the witness testified. According to the witness, the document number on this tax bill 030398417 is not the document number for this particular document and therefore, it is invalid. “This show that property ID 25115 is fraudulent,” he added.
According to him, a claimed payment of US$4,500.00 (Four Thousand Five Hundred United States Dollars) on February 27, 2025 for the 2025 Tax Period is not in the LRA system.
“The receipt number bearing this US$4,500.00 (Four Thousand Five Hundred United States Dollars), which is 594871 is actually a US$20.00 (Twenty United States Dollars) payment made by Musa K. Sannoh for a National Passport, dated May 1, 2009. In addition to this payment receipt, Konton Richards is not part of the CBL at the time this Tax Receipt was being issued on February 27, 2025. Mr. Richards left the CBL in 2003,” he said.
Furthermore, US$4,500.00 (Four Thousand Five Hundred United States Dollars) in cash is not acceptable under the Central Bank regulation for payment, the witness said.
According to the witness, the Central Bank regulation says that any payment for US$250.00 and above is paid by Manager Check, payment less than US$250.00 is paid in cash. not like that of the decommission bill of 2023; therefore, the Tax Bill presented by Randolph and Rufina Cole for property ID 25115 is fraudulent and invalid.