Monrovia – Nine Jurors who were ordered detained at the Monrovia Central Prison last week on allegation of bribery have been turned over to the Justice Ministry for prosecution.
Report by: Kennedy L. [email protected]
Presiding Judge Johannes Zogbay Zlahn of the Civil Law Court “B” at the Temple of Justice who ordered the detention of the jurors took the decision on Friday to turn the jurors over to Montserrado County Attorney, Cllr. Daku Mulbah who is the Ministry’s Chief Prosecutor.
Before the judge turned over the nine jurors, he indicated that there are three branches of Government-the Legislative which is responsible to make laws, the Executive enforces the law while the Judiciary interprets the law.
He said the court being the arm of the Judiciary Branch of Government lacks the competence and constitutional authority to look directly into the issue brought to the attention of the court unless those accused are charged and brought to court.
Therefore he referred the matter to the Executive Branch for investigation and if necessary to prosecute those implicated.
“ We, believe, a credible allegation that a jury empanelled by this court to try a case may have been bribed in an attempt to influence their verdict, hence we believe that further professional investigation is necessary to determine whether or not the crime of bribery was committed and if so by whom? “ said Judge Zlahn.
The nine jurors were arrested by the court on Thursday afternoon after it was reported that they received a bribe of US$6,000 to render a verdict against Austin Clarke who sued the Ecobank bank for US$1.3m in damages for wrong.
In a FrontPageAfrica interview after the jurors’ arrest, Clarke said that he took a loan of US$117,000 from the Ecobank in 2013 and mortgaged his house as a collateral and was paying back the loan gradually.
Clarke claimed that he was arrested and detained for three days at the Monrovia Central Prison without access to bond or lawyer on order of the bank based on claims that he has gone into hiding which he said was false and intended to tarnish his reputation,
According to Clarke after his release he decided to sue the bank and claimed US$1.3m damages for the wrong done to him but when the case was called for hearing with the bank being represented by the Sherman & Sherman Law Firm, he produced all receipts of the payments made to the bank but Ecobank which claimed that he was still indebted had no evidence to prove their case against him.
He furthered that at the end of the case the jurors brought the bank down a verdict of not liable despite all of his evidence but later his source told him that the jurors allegedly received the amount of US$6,000.00 bribe to turn the verdict against him.
“My source informed me that the jurors were bribed US$6,000 in the case but the six jurors who rendered the verdict decided to give the other three stand-by jurors little amount. This is how the quarrel came and the story leaked” said Clarke.
FrontPageAfrica reliably learnt late Friday evening that the nine jurors who were turned over to the Montserrado County Attorney, Cllr. Mulbah for prosecution were temporarily released to return on Monday.