Taylor’s money

Outgoing prosecutor in the Charles Taylor trial, Stephen Rapp, recently answered questions from readers of the Trial of Charles Taylor blog.  While addressing issues of Taylor’s money he referenced a UN Panel of Experts report that showed bank documents from Taylor’s old personal LBDI account.  These documents showed deposits of stolen money.   I had been unable to find this report, but a reader kindly pointed me to it.  You can access it here.  (The bank documents are from pages 44-46.)

Rapp said:

“During the time it was open, millions of dollars were deposited in the account. The most notorious transaction was one where the Oriental Timber Company deposited US $1,999,975 in the morning into the Liberian Treasury and the same US $1,999,975 went into this personal account at LBDI that very afternoon. “

The image above shows the second part of this transaction.  The caption says:

Debit ticket for deposit of $1,999,975 on 8 July 2000 from Natura Holdings (associated with the Oriental Timber Corporation) to Charles Taylor’s personal bank account

So unless I’m mistaken, Rapp seems to have his facts wrong.  (Or the caption is wrong.)   According to the caption the money went straight from Natura to Taylor.  But this seems nitpicky.  Taylor stole money (at times directly, at times less directly) from his government.  The UN has proof.  The bigger issue, I think, is whether all of the stolen money has been spent.