Monrovia – The much publicized Sable Mining bribery case involving former and current government officials pending before the court for adjudication continues to face legal wrangling among the parties to the case.
After the case has been halted for a year now due to objection and appeals filed to the Supreme Court against the then presiding judge ruling by the prosecution on Tuesday, October 3, 2017 Associate Justice Philip Banks steps aside from another hearing at the Supreme Court .
Associate Justice Banks decision to quit the hearing came in the backdrop when he presided and rendered judgment into a writ of certiorari filed in the same case by prosecution lead lawyer Cllr. Daku Mulbah.
Under Liberia laws and practices, a writ of certiorari is a petition that lawyers file to the high court to review the ruling of lower courts judges.
The writ was filed by the prosecution to overturn ruling of the then Judge Yarmie Gbeisay when he ruled to place a temporary mark of identification on the prosecution key evidence an e-mails obtained in South Africa reportedly exchanged among the accused until the author of the e-mail can come to court to testify in favor of the instrument.
Prosecution lawyers argued that the ruling of the judge was an advertant error that was contrary to law on the part of a judge who was serving in dual capacities both as a judge and jury de-facto at the time of the trial.
Following the hearing Associate Justice Banks ruled and overturned the ruling of judge Gbeisay that he was in error to temporarily mark the e-mail evidence and at the same time demanded the author of the e-mail to come to court to testify in favor of the instrument.
Defense lawyers, Cllr. Cyril Jones and Frank Musa Dean objected to the ruling and filed an appeal to the Supreme Court against Associate Justice Bank’s ruling.
During the appeal hearing at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Associate Justice Banks at the start of the hearing drew the attention of his colleagues when he recused himself from the hearing.
“Your honor, Chief Justice, I wish to announce that I have recused myself from this hearing because I previously presided in this case and rendered a judgment” said Associate Justice Banks.
Associate Justice Banks is the third high profile legal practitioners to recuse themselves from the case for legal reasons either for having relationship or for working with any of the defendants.
Justice Minister Federick Cherue, since the indictment of the eight former and current officials were charged on May 24, 2017 has recused himself from the case because his late daughter prior to her death worked for the Sherman & Sherman Law Firm owned by co-defendant Varney Sherman.
While Solicitor General Betty Larmie Blamo made a similar move at the start of case when she recused herself as being a former employee of the Sherman & Sherman Law Firm.
As Associate Justice Banks recused himself from the case on Tuesday, the hearing went ahead with the presence of four of the five members of the Supreme Court Justices hearing the case.
Defense lawyer Moses Paegar argued that the e-mail in question which has been a contentious issue in the case was obtained in South Africa and brought to the court without meeting the standard under the Liberian laws and practices.
He called on the high court to set aside the ruling of Associate Justice Banks that the judge was in error by ruling to temporarily mark the e-mail evidence.
While prosecution lawyers, Cllr. Arthur Johnson counter- argued that the judge was in error when he temporarily marked their e-mail evidence and demanded the author to come and testify or else the evidence will be stripped off the court records.
“Your honors the judge was surely in error therefore we want you to confirm the ruling of Justice Banks” said Cllr Johnson but Chief Justice Francis Korkpor ruled and reserved ruling for an unannounced date.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Francis Korkpor has told parties to the case that the Supreme Court will close on Wednesday, October 5, 2017 and re-opens on Monday, October 9, 2017 for business, but warned that the high court will prioritize elections cases in the wake of the pending Presidential and Legislative elections slated for Tuesday, October 10, 2017 across the country.