Monrovia – Oumou Hage, 53, the widow of the late Milad R. Hage, whose estate has been the subject of one the longest-running legal wrangles in Liberia’s history, is languishing in custody at the Monrovia Central Prison because she refused to sign a fake deed that was introduced in the case of her late husband’s estate.
Report by Rodney D. Sieh, rodney.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com
Judge Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay, of the Civil Law Court “A” remanded the widow to the notorious Monrovia Central Prison for defending her husband’s estate.
Nearly eleven years after his death, the estate of the Late Milad R. Hage continues to linger in a state of uncertainty
Oumou’s daughter, Raquel, speaking to FrontPageAfrica Tuesday expressed concerns about her mother’s health.
“They are treating my mother as if she is a criminal when the case is a civil matter”, Raquel lamented. My mom’s health is not good and the court knows it. She is 53-years of age and is diabetic, the court is aware of her medical condition but they are using coercion in order for her to give the properties to her stepdaughter.
Oumou Hage was legally married to Mr. Hage for 30 years and has three children for him including a boy and two girls who are all now adults.
She won the case in 2015 against a Lebanese man, Bassam Jawhary, who was fighting her for the same properties. In 2016, one of the late Hage’s daughter introduced new deeds claiming 65 percent of the properties while leaving her seven other siblings and the widow with only 35 percent.
In 2014, the Supreme Court of Liberia granted the petition to overturn a ruling to exclude some properties and to audit millions of United States dollars collected from the Hage estate, instructing the Monthly and Probate Court of Montserrado County to retry the matter.
Initially, the lower court denied a motion to “Exclude Movants Properties from the Estate of the Late Milad R. Hage and to Order Audit of Mr. Bassam H. Jawhary Relating to the Estate” filed by Hage’s widow Oumou Sirleaf Hage, a Liberian and children against Jawhary, a Lebanese national. “They are treating my mother as if she is a criminal when the case is a civil matter” – Raquel, Daugther of Oumou Hage Last March, Chief Justice Francis Korkpor came under fire from lawyers over a Supreme Court decision to give priority to cases before it in which commercial banks […]
