Taylor’s daughter loses US$100,000

The oldest daughter of jailed ex-President Charles Taylor has reportedly lost US$100,000 which she withdrew from a bank over the weekend. The money was said to have been allegedly stolen by her 15-year-old cousin Adolphus Taylor, Jr. at their home in Arthington, outside Monrovia.

The minor is a son of one of the siblings of ex-President Taylor, Adolphus Taylor, Sr. The source of her wealth independently of her father remains unclear, but family sources say Miss Sylvia Zoe Taylor is a businesswoman who owns Real Estates both here and in Ghana, and also runs a shop in Arthington where she currently resides.

According to a family source, Zoe withdrew the money to purchase another house, a deal which was due to be sealed when the alleged theft occurred. Police in Bong County arrested Adolphus Taylor, Jr. on Monday, 9 May with over US$69,000 of the amount.

The suspect has been transferred to the Liberian National Police Headquarters in Monrovia for further investigation. He is said to have committed the act along with an unidentified accomplice, who took his share of the money and absconded. Both boys were living with Miss Taylor in the house.

Adolphus Taylor, Jr. got in the hands of the police after Zoe reportedly informed family members that her money has been stolen by the boys living with her. He was picked up in a village called Gonima in Bong County after a family member reportedly informed the police about the money he brought in a bag.

Ex-President Taylor had claimed before the UN-backed Special Court of Sierra Leone during his war crime trial in The Hague that he is an indigent or poverty-stricken, and therefore could not pay for his legal defense, so the Special Court underwrote the entire expense for his defense up to his conviction and subsequent imprisonment in Britain.

Miss Sylvia Zoe Taylor is the senior and most loved daughter of Mr. Taylor, said to have been born in Arthington during one of her father’s difficult moments in life. She was wedded to the former president of the Liberia Football Association Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr. during her father’s presidency, but that marriage was terminated after a year.

Currently Montserrado County district #6 Representative, Mr. Snow also served as deputy managing director for the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company during the Taylor regime, and subsequently headed that entity in the transitional period after Taylor relinquished the presidency.

Papa Morris from Bong –Editing by Jonathan Browne