Former Transitional Chairman, Charles Gyude Bryant, has been released by criminal court C at the Temple of Justice after filing a Criminal Appearance Bond valued at US$2.4 million.

Mr. Bryant was arrested Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at his home in connection with alleged misappropriation of millions of U.S dollars during his tenure as head of government for two years, during which Liberia marched from chaos to peace.

The Liberian government charged the former NTGL head with "theft of property" for allegedly purloining millions of US dollars from the national coffers as indicated in the ECOWAS audit report.

Back in 2005, the NTGL requested the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to conduct an audit of its operations with the view of determining whether corruption was actually being carried out by the transitional government.

ECOWAS honored that request and sent an audit team to audit the financial operations of the entire government in the wake of reported massive corruption.

The former Transitional leader was escorted from the criminal court C at the Temple of Justice by plain clothes security officers including UNMIL military personnel upon filling the bond guaranteed by the Overseas Economic Insurance Company Incorporated, an insurance company believed to be operated by a close associate of the Mr. Bryant.

The head of Bryant's legal team, former Solicitor General, Cllr. Theophilus Gould received the government's return on behalf of his client. With the release of Mr. Bryant upon the filling of the Criminal Appearance Bond, the government of Liberia has three days to contest or affirm the validity of the bond filed by Mr. Bryant in keeping with law.

Mr. Bryant is one of several former officials of the transitional government facing court action for their alleged role in the squandering millions of dollars from national coffers, as revealed in the ECOWAS audit report.

Before his final arrest by state security in keeping with legal arrangements, there are rumors that the process leading to his summon to the court was defined according to law.

He was invited by officers of government for several days at the Justice Ministry relative to his involvement in corrupt acts as maintained in the report that he misappropriated state money.

Standing by as he is, Bryant is said to be determined to defend himself against all allegations as evident by his earlier statement, which amongst other things, is that government lacks evidence to prosecute or link him to corruption.

More than saying that government lacks evidence to prosecute him, he also asserted that he has never seen the ECOWAS Audit Report because it was not submitted to him during his tenure at the Executive Mansion.

What is baffling, according to observers, is his assertion that the over US$1.3M in question was disbursed for state security operations, and that the money was also used to fund the 2005 general and presidential elections that brought the government to state power.

These, among many others, are the arguments he is likely to put up during the case which is to be heard as soon as possible, analysts say, adding that if he has the documents to produce to substantiate his claims, he would walk away with a gloating smile in victory.

In a related development, Bryant's recent arrest has not gone down well with some Liberians, some of who claim that he has not been treated fairly, as they say he was taken out of his residence without a writ of arrest.

But, according to observers, it is impossible for Mr. Bryant to subject himself to anything that is not legally prudent owing to the fact that he has a team of legal minds at his defense that knows what is appropriate as far as the law is concerned.

Human Rights Activist, Cllr. Dempster Brown has described the arrest and subsequent prosecution of the former head of government as a practice of "selective justice."

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