Monrovia – Criminal Court ‘C’ Judge Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay is expected to deliver on Tuesday 24 March, his final ruling in the much-publicized economic sabotage case involving former Defense Minister Brownie J. Samukai and two of his former deputies.
Judge Gbeisay initially reserved ruling into the case on March 19, after final arguments between the prosecution and defense lawyers.
However, the Judge issued a notice of assignment to the parties – prosecution and defense lawyers — ordering them to appear for the rendition of the judgment on Tuesday, March 24.
“You are hereby commanded to notify the parties together with their counsels to appear on Tuesday, the 24th day of March 2020 at the precise hour of 9AM.,” the Criminal Court C Judge wrote. “All parties and their legal counsels are therefore required to be present and on time.”
During the final arguments, prosecution lawyer Ndubusi Nwabudike, who has now been nominated by President George Weah as Chairman of the National Elections Commission, argued that the withdrawal of monies from the AFL account was a deliberate attempt by the defendants to deplete the account.
Cllr. Nwabudike, who was arguing as Chairman of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission and a member of the prosecution lawyers, also argued that bank records have shown that the defendants withdrew monies from the AFL account 11 times.
He also argued that the US$460,000 paid by the government as reimbursement funds into the AFL pension account towards the US$1.3 Million used from the account, does not exonerate the defendants from committing the crimes charged in the indictment.
“They used the money and gave justification that they used it for army deployment in Mali. However, the government paying back the money used from the AFL account does not exonerate the defendants for the money they stole,” Nwabudike argued.
In their argument, Defense lawyer Cllr. Michael Watkins Wright argued that the withdrawal of monies from the AFL pension account was done on the orders of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
“This country (Liberia), when a Commander-In-Chief gives orders, it is final and binding. More beside, prosecution did not provide any evidence to prove that these people (defendants) benefited from any of the money withdrew from the account,” Cllr. Wright argued.
Cllr. Wright further argued that all the monies withdrawn from the AFL account were used on the welfare of the soldiers.
The Defense lawyer also added that the crimes leveled against the defendants in the Indictment are false, stating that “The State has not provided any evidence to the crimes charged”.
Defendant Samukai and his two former deputies, Joseph F. Johnson, former Deputy Minister for Administration and J. Nyumah Dorkor, former Comptroller, are charged with the alleged crimes of economic sabotage, money laundering, misuse of public money among others.
The trio was indicted by the Grand Jury of Montserrado County on October 19, 2019 but they pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned before the court.
According to the Indictment, in July 2009, the Ministry of National Defense (MOD) opened account named and styled “AFL Pension Account” at the Eco Bank Limited with account number1092-522-22-19, which was meant to provide benefits to wounded AFL soldiers, and also to families of dead AFL personnel as well as to supplement pension package to personnel of the AFL upon retirement from active service.
The Indictment stated that during the period of July 2009-November 2017, the amount of US$1, 943,971.99 (United States Dollars, One Million Nine hundred and Forty-three Thousand, Nine hundred and seventy-one and Ninety Cent) was deposited into the account.
The indictment furthered that the defendants “criminally” withdrew US$1,259,462.00 from the account between the period of September 2014 and September 2017.