By Alphonso Toweh and Carielle Doe
MONROVIA, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Liberia has charged former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering and other offenses as part of an investigation of a transnational narcotics network, the West African nation's attorney general said in a statement on Wednesday.
The arrest of Howard-Taylor, ex-wife of convicted war criminal Charles Taylor, comes less than a month after Liberian authorities announced that they had seized around $317 million worth of cocaine that was bound for Europe, highlighting the country's growing role in the global drug trade.
"There will be no selective justice, political protection, sacred cows or compromise with organized criminality," the statement said. "Every person against whom credible and admissible evidence is established will be investigated and prosecuted without fear, favor or political consideration."
Howard-Taylor was stopped while attempting to leave the country at Roberts International Airport and taken to national police headquarters, according to the statement.
The charges against her also include unlicensed importation of a controlled substance, criminal solicitation and criminal conspiracy, the statement said.
Howard-Taylor's lawyer, Kabineh M. Ja’neh, told Reuters that he had met with his client earlier on Wednesday and authorities informed him that they intended to charge her, though he had not seen the indictment.
"She is in the custody of the Liberia National Police tonight. She will sleep there," he said.
"We would be able to proceed with the matter once we get the formal charge."
Authorities have also charged in absentia three alleged members of the network — two Croatian nationals and a Ukrainian national — and the statement said that the government would seek their arrest through domestic and international legal channels.
Howard-Taylor served as vice president under former President George Weah from January 2018 to January 2024.
(Reporting by Carielle Doe and Alphonso Toweh; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Ayen Deng Bior; Editing by Mark Porter)
