Supreme Court Orders Five Former FDA, Lands Officials Jailed in US$6 Million Forestry Case

Published: August 27, 2026

MONROVIA — Liberia’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered five former forestry and lands officials imprisoned for one year each after upholding their economic sabotage convictions in a long-running case involving 61 illegal forestry permits that prosecutors said cost the government about US$6 million.

By Melvin Jackson

The court also ordered each defendant to pay US$10,000 in restitution, bringing the combined amount to US$50,000.

The convicted officials are Moses Wogbeh, former managing director of the Forestry Development Authority; John Kanto, former FDA technical manager; Janger Kamara, former FDA manager for commercial forestry; David Blayee, former Grand Bassa County surveyor at the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy; and Maxwell Gwee, former director of cartography at the ministry.

Associate Justice Boakai N. Kanneh delivered the judgment during the court’s March Term session on Aug. 27, rejecting the defendants’ appeal and affirming the lower court’s finding that they committed economic sabotage.

The case, which has remained in Liberia’s judicial system for more than a decade, centered on the issuance and processing of 61 Private Use Permits that prosecutors said were illegal and deprived the government of millions of dollars in revenue.

Private Use Permits authorize commercial logging on privately owned land. Prosecutors alleged that the five officials used their positions at the FDA and the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy to facilitate permits that did not meet legal requirements.

Wogbeh, who headed the FDA at the time, was the most senior official charged in the case. Kanto and Kamara held technical and commercial forestry positions at the agency, while Blayee and Gwee performed surveying and cartographic functions at the lands ministry.

The defendants were convicted of economic sabotage in the lower court but challenged the judgment before the Supreme Court, seeking to have their convictions overturned. Thursday’s ruling ends that appeal and clears the way for enforcement of their prison sentences.

Under the judgment, each former official must serve one year in prison and pay US$10,000 in restitution.