Former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor has been remanded to jail after the Monrovia City Court rejected a request by her lawyers for her release on humanitarian grounds, days after she experienced a medical emergency while in police custody.
Stipendiary Magistrate Ben Barco issued a writ of arrest against Howard-Taylor and three foreign nationals, charging them with offenses that include the unlicensed importation of controlled drugs, illicit trafficking, abuse of office, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, criminal solicitation, money laundering and aiding the consummation of a crime.
Howard-Taylor, who served as Liberia’s vice president from 2018 to 2024, was detained on August 19 at Roberts International Airport while preparing to travel to Ghana. She was subsequently held at Liberia National Police headquarters.
During her detention, Howard-Taylor reportedly suffered a medical emergency and was transferred under police escort to the Gomez Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment. Her lawyers maintained that the hospital transfer did not amount to her release from government custody.
Her legal team has strongly denied the accusations, describing the case as baseless and politically motivated. The lawyers have vowed to challenge the charges and defend the former vice president in court.
According to the writ of arrest, the allegations date back to 2021 and center on an alleged international drug-trafficking operation involving three foreign nationals — Sheik Bashiru Kante, Taras Zadereiko and Mihovil Vrovac.
The government alleges that the three men conspired to transport cocaine into and out of Liberia for eventual shipment to Europe. The writ claims Kante introduced Zadereiko and Vrovac to Howard-Taylor in 2022, during her tenure as vice president, and that the group later met at her residence in Congo Town.
The complaint further alleges that the foreign nationals invited Howard-Taylor to Dubai, where she was introduced to Nikola Ivancic, a Croatian national identified by investigators as the alleged head of the network.
While in Dubai, the government alleges that Howard-Taylor received US$45,000 from Ivancic, which was described as money for shopping, in the presence of the other three accused individuals. The writ further claims that after returning to Liberia, she requested and received an additional US$75,000.
Investigators allege that discussions among the group included plans to use Liberia as a transit point for cocaine destined for Europe.
The Ministry of Justice said Howard-Taylor is being prosecuted under provisions of Liberia’s Controlled Drug and Substance Act, Penal Law and Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law. The government has also disclosed that the three foreign nationals were charged in absentia.
The case remains before the Liberian courts, and the allegations contained in the writ have yet to be proven at trial. Howard-Taylor is presumed innocent unless and until she is convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction.
