MONROVIA –It seems the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 55th Legislature, Richard Nagbe Koon, is now becoming a regular goer to court in the aftermath of the legal matters he and his fellow erstwhile ‘majority bloc’ of House had to face at the Supreme Court of Liberia.
This time around, weeks after his election and subsequent induction as Speaker of the 55th National Legislature, Speaker Koon, who represents Montserrado County Electoral District #11, has been summoned by the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court, in Montserrado County to respond to a lawsuit filed by his estranged wife, Angeline Mamie Worloh Koon. The case is based on allegations that the Speaker has failed to account for over US$209,000 in rental income from 10 jointly-owned apartment buildings.
The documents quote Mrs. Koon as claiming that she and Speaker Koon acquired a joint property in March 2004, located in the Unity Conference Center Community on Hotel Africa Road in Virginia, Montserrado County. Madam Koon said she has been married to Speaker Koon since 2000, alleging that they both developed the land into five duplexes containing a total of 10 apartment buildings, which they agreed to use as rental properties starting in 2007 to support their family.
However, Madam Koon charges that her husband, who manages the property, has consistently refused to provide any accounting of the rental income or its use. She estimates that the first year’s revenue (2007) was about US$11,000 but claims she has no knowledge of earnings from the past 19 years.
“The purpose of renting the properties has not been met,” she said in her petition, noting that even before they began living separately, the Speaker failed to account for the rental proceeds and has continued to do so.
Madam Koon also stated that the apartments are not properly maintained, and despite being a joint owner, she is excluded from management decisions, including tenant selection and rent collection. “He is operating and managing the apartments to the total exclusion of me, as evident by the tenants currently occupying all the apartments without my presence and knowledge.”
She recounted a 2015 dispute in which the Speaker allegedly told her to ask tenants directly for receipts after she questioned him about rental proceeds. She said she did obtain some receipts at the time but was later barred from further interaction with tenants.
Mrs. Koon’s petition argues that under the law, a person managing jointly-owned property can be compelled to render a full accounting if they deprive the other owner of their financial interest. Quoting Black’s Law Dictionary (10th Edition), she stated that accounting is “a legal action to compel a defendant to account for and pay over money owed to the plaintiff but held by the defendant.”
She is now requesting the court to compel Speaker Koon to account for all proceeds generated from the properties and pay her the portion to which she is legally entitled.
Meanwhile, political pundits have opined that the return to court of Speaker Koon, following the long legal battle that surrounded the legislative impasse that was resolved by the Supreme Court’s opinion does not speak well for him as the third most powerful person in the country.
They have argued that though the Speaker may be represented by his legal team at the court for the hearings, but it has serious implications that could impede his function as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Also, these pundits have intoned the action taken by the Speaker’s wife, accusing him of not accounting for rental proceeds has political implications on his duty as Speaker, stating if the Speaker cannot account for rental proceeds to his wife as she has alleged in her petition to the court, will he be able to account for the millions of dollars allotted to the House of Representatives in a given budget? The bookmakers are watching keenly.
