MONROVIA – Madam Betty Lamin Blamo, former Solicitor General, isn’t letting Cllr. Syrennius Cephas, current Solicitor General, get away with allegations made against her pertaining to her role in the Ellen Corkrum case, terming the accusations contained in his recent letter to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) as “totally baseless”.
Solicitor General Cephas turned the table around after securing a dismissal of the case against the former Managing Director of the Liberia Airport Authority (LAA) who was indicted by the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf regime for allegedly procuring the transfer of US$US$269,000.00 of public funds to a fictitious company, Diaspora Consulting, LLC (Diaspora), and to its CEO, Mr. Momar Dieng, her friend from the Kennedy School, Harvard University, for work that he and his company did not perform.
She was also accused of illegal transfer of US$56,750 of LAA funds to her romantic partner Melvin Johnson, and his firm Melvin Johnson and Associates (a law firm in the State of Georgia, United States of America) allegedly for services rendered in connection with the security system at Roberts International Airport (RIA), which services were neither performed by Johnson or his firm.
Solicitor General Cephas received public backlash for the decision to drop charges against Corkrum who returned to Liberia late January and surprisingly received a rousing welcome at the RIA.
The Minister of Justice/Attorney General later informed FrontPageAfrica that he did not sanction the dropping of charges against Corkrum and was not in the know of such decision.
Where Cephas Went ‘Wrong’
Cllr. Cephas, in a February 3 letter to the Chairman of the LACC, Cllr. Ndubuisi Nwabudike, noted that the decision that drop charges against Ms. Corkrum because the indictment had been pending without being able to get her to answer to the indictment.
In said letter, Cllr. Cephas claimed that a careful review of the records of the case shows, that the previous government entered a Nolle Prosequoi in favor of a number of defendants involved in this matter prior to current administration, and he in recent times, did the same due to the absence of Madam Corkrum and to avoid being seen as pursuing a “selective prosecution.”
Drawing the former Solicitor General into the fray, Cllr. Cephas wrote: “Further, we also noticed that a sole source recommendation was made by our predecessor Cllr. Betty Lamin Blamo to hire a US-based firm, Fox Rothschild to which US$200,00(Two Hundred Thousand Dollars that was allegedly paid to Fox Rothschild to have Madam Corkrum brought back to Liberia.
Finally, the investigation should take into consideration the legal basis for the former Solicitor General Betty Lamin-Blamo recommending a sole source bid or selection of Fox Rothschild recommending a sole source bid or selection of Fox Rotschild, what became of the extradition proceedings, if any among them.”
Betty Lamin Blamo Not Taking It Lightly
Cllr. Blamo, in her response to the Solicitor General stated: “I am shocked by the above-quoted allegations made and reported to have been made by you against me, since none has any basis in fact and you personally know and ought to know their falsity.
While I would have ordinarily ignored these patently false allegations trumped up apparently for some sinister objective, I am however constrained to respond for the record and the benefit of the public that is sought to be misled. For clarity, I will respond to the allegations individually.”
She debunked the allegation of the previous regime dropping charges against a number of persons who were also indicted in connection with the case.
She recalled that the case was brought against Ellen Cockrum, Melvin Johnson, Momar Dieng, Diaspora Consulting, Musa Bility and two banks- LBDI and First International Bank (FIB), with the bank’s complicity being principally in the content of the provision of services related to facilitating deposit and withdrawal of the stolen funds.
According to her, Co-Defednat FIB confessed judgment, and restituted the amount of $56,750.00 that it had transferred to Melvin Johnson’s United States account at the instance of Ellen Cockrum, and the court accordingly issued a suspended sentence in favour of the co-defendant First International Bank (FIB);
LBDI pleaded not guilty, but later accepted to cooperate with the Government and serve as a witness in the case;
In consideration of and ONLY on the basis that LBDI will cooperate and serve as witness in the case, the Government decided to enter Nolle Prosequi in favor of LBDI.
“I am shocked by the above-quoted allegations made and reported to have been made by you against me, since none has any basis in fact and you personally know and ought to know their falsity.“
– Cllr. Betty Lamin Blamo, Former Solicitor General
“You, Cllr. Cephus, served as one of several counsels for co-defendant LBDI at the time, and thus certainly know the consideration, purpose and object for which charges were dropped against LBDI; the object and purpose being far removed from that of a ‘selective prosecution’” she stated.
According to her, the charges were dropped against LBDI specifically without prejudice to the Government. Dismissal without prejudice means, if LBDI did not cooperate, the Government reserved the right to re-file charges.
No Nollee Prosequi was entered in favor of Musa Bility. Instead, the charges against Musa were dropped by the Court based on a motion filed by Musa Bility.
Cllr. Blamo: “You are aware and are also in notice of the court records available in your office that Bility filed a motion to dismiss the indictment for the Government’s failure to prosecute the case within two terms after indictment as is provided for under Section 18.2 of the Criminal Procedure Law. The Government vigorously resisted Bility’s motion, but the court granted Bility’s motion over the objection of the Government.
“You are aware and are also in notice of the court’s records available in your office, that the indictment against Co-defendant Melvin Johnson was never dropped/dismissed by the former Government. As a matter of fact, we filed a formal complaint against Melvin Johnson before the Georgia Bar of which he was a member and requested his extradition along with Cockrum.
“You are aware and are also in notice of the court records available in your office, that the indictment against Co-defendant Diaspora Consulting, LLC and Momar Dieng was never dropped/dismissed by the former Government.”
Denying Paying US$200k to Fox Rothschild
The former Solicitor General categorically denied knowing Fox Rothschild or any partner or associate of the firm before it was hired or making any recommendation or even an informal suggestion for it to be hired.
She wrote: “You are aware that as a matter of course, procurement matters in the Ministry of Justice as in all Ministries and Agencies of Government are handled by the Department of Administration and not by the Solicitor General. In the case of the Fox Rothschild contract as the records show, it was the then Deputy Minister for Administration who wrote the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) to request “No Objection” for the use of the sole source method of procurement. The request was granted by the PPCC and the Ministers of Finance & Justice subsequently entered into the contract with Fox Rothschild on behalf of the Government of Liberia. Your statement that I was responsible for that decision, or requesting it of the PPCC, are thus clearly false.”
“You are also aware, as the records show, that the contract with Fox Rothschild was capped [emphasis supplied] at US$200,000. The former Administration did not pay Fox Rothschild US$ 200,000 at all. The agreement provides that Fox Rothschild would be paid at an hourly rate provided that the firm will bill no more than US$200,000 in aggregate for the services to be provided, and to the best of my recollection, the invoices submitted by Steven M. Schneebaum (the assigned lawyer) which was paid by the Government of Liberia, did not exceed US$100,000.”
Cllr. Blamo further debunked assertion attributed to Cllr. Cephas that she recommended the dropping of charges against Corkrum.
She said she was hired as a consultant in 2018 to assist the Ministry of Justice with some matters including that of Corkrum and she personally appeared before the ECOWAS Court and argued the Corkrum case in favor of the Government of Liberia and won the case.
“At no time before or thereafter did I recommend that charges be dropped against Cockrum,” she said.