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| Liberia Presidential Candidate George Weah |
After stepping off a helicopter on his return to the capital, Monrovia, from a nationwide tour ahead of elections on October 10, Weah categorically denied speaking with Taylor, who is serving a 50-year prison term in Britain for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"I am not in contact with Charles Taylor, I repeat, I am not," Weah told AFP and France 24 journalists. The BBC quoted him this week as saying he had taken a phone call from Taylor recorded in January.
Weah's vice-presidential pick is Taylor's ex-wife, Jewel Howard-Taylor, who told AFP "Liberia needs to move on" when asked if she maintained a correspondence with her ex-husband.
The union of Weah and Howard-Taylor's parties into the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) for the vote was seen as an unexpected but astute move as the footballing superstar turned politician makes his second attempt at the presidency.
Howard-Taylor is a respected senator in her own right and has built her own political reputation beyond that of Taylor's First Lady during his 1997-2003 rule.
However, the international community remains preoccupied by Taylor's ongoing influence on public life.
The US Congress passed a resolution in late September which "condemns any external interference in the elections, including any communication or action by convicted war criminal and former armed faction leader Charles Taylor to influence the elections from prison."
A UN-backed court convicted Taylor in 2012 of war crimes, crimes against humanity and several other offences for his role in neighbouring Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war in which an estimated 50 000 people died.