The presiding Judge of Criminal Court ‘C’ at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia has rejected the surety bonds submitted for Nora Finda Bundoo, and ordered her to secure an US$8 million criminal appearance bond before she can be released.
Judge Feika issued the ruling on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, during the court’s ninth-day closing chambers session, following arguments over Bundoo’s motion to justify surety and the prosecution’s objections to the property valuation bonds filed on her behalf.
Bundoo is facing charges of money laundering, theft of property, misuse of public money, property or records, criminal conspiracy, forgery, and criminal facilitation in a case brought by the Republic of Liberia through the Assets Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force (AREPT) and the Ministry of Justice.
The court had earlier rejected previous surety arrangements presented for Bundoo and granted her 72 hours to submit new bonds. Her legal team later presented two property valuation bonds- one valued at US$240,000 from Kai Garlo Farley and another valued at US$350,000 from John Moses Gbetee.
However, prosecutors challenged the bonds, arguing that they were insufficient and did not meet the requirements of Liberia’s laws under section 63. 2 of the Civil Procedure of Liberia.
In his ruling, Judge Feika found that the property submitted by Gbetee could not be accepted because it was already heavily encumbered and had been used as security in several other court cases.
“The property offered by Mr. John Moses Gbetee as a criminal appearance bond for co-defendant Nora Finda Bundoo is heavily encumbered. The encumbrances already placed on the property exceed its stated value of US$350,000,” Judge Feika said.
The court noted that records showed the same property had been used as security in multiple cases, creating bond obligations totaling more than US$2.4 million.
Judge Feika ruled that accepting the property as bond security would violate the Civil Procedure Law, which requires property used for surety purposes to have sufficient value after all existing obligations are considered.
“These facts clearly indicate liens and/or encumbrances on the property that this court cannot ignore,” the judge stated.
The court also ruled that the combined value of the two bonds, totaling US$590,000, was far below what was required given the seriousness of the allegations against Bundoo.
Citing Liberia’s Constitution and criminal procedure laws, Judge Feika said an accused person has the right to bail, but the bond amount must reflect the seriousness of the charges.
“The right to bail, however, is subject to the requirement that bail be sufficient in light of the gravity of the charge,” he ruled.
Based on these findings, the court set aside Gbetee’s property valuation bond and placed Bundoo’s bail requirement at US$8 million.
“Accordingly, this court hereby disqualifies and sets aside the property valuation bond proffered by Mr. John Moses Gbetee and sets the bail-bond threshold for co-defendant Nora Finda Bundoo at US$8,000,000.00,” Judge Feika ordered.
The court further instructed the Sheriff to take Bundoo into custody if she was present in court. If she remains outside the court’s jurisdiction, the Clerk was ordered to issue a writ of arrest for her detention pending the approval of a valid criminal appearance bond.
The ruling comes as the government continues its prosecution of several individuals accused of financial crimes under the ongoing asset recovery initiative led by AREPT.
