Published: September 30, 2025
MONROVIA — The Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice has ordered the arrest and detention of several former senior officials of government, including former Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean and former Minister of Mines and Energy, Gesler Murray for the disappearance of a 53.34-carat diamond that vanished under controversial circumstances in Gbarpolu County.
Others named in the ruling done by Judge J. Boima Kontoe of the Sixth Judicial Civil Law Court include Mustapha Tounkara, president of the Diamond Dealers Association, Ishaka Conneh, Emmanuel T.T. Swen and Korvah Baysah, an appraiser.
It can be recalled that in 2023, the Ministry of Justice under the leadership of Cllr. Frank Musa Dean gave the ownership of the controversial diamond worth about US$2.7 million to the government-denying a group of miners whose leader was identified as Mohammed Kamara, alias Jacket. The diamond was found by the miners while mining at Camp #9 diamond creek in Gbarpolu County.
The then Attorney General of the Republic, Cllr. Dean, wrote a communication dated June 5, 2023 informing then President George Weah that an investigation was done and concluded into the controversies surrounding the diamond-giving the rightful ownership of the mineral to the Government. No evidence has yet come indicating the whereabouts of the diamond or how it impacted any facet of the Liberian society.
Former Mines and Energy Minister Gesler Murray
Now, the day has come when the government of the day, through the court has documented details contrary to the claims made by the former Justice Minister along with his team. In its decision, the court said evidence reviewed pointed to a “criminal cartel” involving secrecy, collusion and falsified documents that allowed the diamond to be sold outside Liberia. The ruling accused Tounkara of forging paperwork to distort the stone’s origin before selling it abroad “at the instruction of Frank Musa Dean and Gesler Murray.”
Korvah Baysah who appraised the diamond and issued its certificate of origin, was singled out for allegedly concealing critical documentation, including the vendor return form, which could identify the buyers and the amount paid.
“Unless these individuals can be made to account for the diamond in question, the execution of the Supreme Court mandate is unlikely,” the ruling said.
The controversy dates back to 2022, when two licensed miners, T. David Sluward and Mohammed “Junior” Kamara, discovered the 53.34-carat stone. The Ministry of Justice under Dean later claimed ownership on behalf of the government, arguing that the miners’ license had expired. However, the Supreme Court ruled in August that the miners had properly renewed their license before expiration, making the government’s claim invalid.
The high court ordered the Civil Law Court to enforce its judgment and determine the whereabouts of the diamond. The lower court concluded that Dean, Murray, and their associates obstructed that mandate and must be held in contempt until they produce the diamond.
“The chain of custody was broken by collusion,” the ruling said, noting that the government’s prior assertion of ownership was unsupported by evidence and contradicted by its own investigative panel, which had earlier established that the diamond belonged to Sluward and Kamara.
The court has ordered that the accused be committed to the Monrovia Central Prison until they account for the diamond.
The case has ignited fresh scrutiny over Liberia’s diamond industry and enforcement of the Kimberley Process, the international certification scheme meant to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the global market.
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