The Ministry of Justice says the Writ against Alexander B. Cummings and others was never quashed and therefore could not have been reinstated by the office of the Minister.
However, in a statement issue in Monrovia, the Ministry confirmed that the directive by the Minister of Justice is consistent with Section 22.2 of the Executive Law, which States that: “It shall be the duty of the Minister of Justice to ‘procure the proper evidence for, and conduct, prosecute or defend all suits and proceedings in the courts in which the Republic of Liberia or any officer thereof, as to such officer, is a party or may be interested.”
The release further states that the Minister of Justice has cautioned that the prosecution of all cases must be approved by his office and prosecutors are advised to furnish his office with the proper evidence in support of any and all prosecutions.
The Minister of Justice noted that he is under obligation to ensure that the purpose of prosecution is not to taint, harass, grandstand, punish or convict, but to pursue the truth
The clarity come amidst counter-accusations of a leaked SMS message allegedly from Liberia’s Solicitor-General Sayma Syrennius Cephas on the Spoon talk with ANC’s political leader, Alexander B. Cummings, on Sunday alleging how he (Cephas) is being used by Minister Dean in the ongoing trial.
The purported SMS message allegedly Cephas to Stanton Wintterspoon spilled deep rooted confusion within the Ministry of Justice over the ongoing Cummings trial.
The purported SMS message read: “Good morning. Alot of misinformation is going on about my role in the Alexander B. Cummings and others trial but the truth is, it was the Minister of Justice, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean who ordered the re-issuance of the writ of arrest against them after it was first quashed. Under Liberian law he is the only person who can disagree with the president or the government and still keep his job and he is the only person who can order the matter to be dismissed. I am only a prosecutor who is acting under his control and supervision but he’s afraid to take a firm decision and believes that I will unilaterally abandoned the case so that he can use it against me to the government and people of Liberia. My role is like a Frontline commander only acting on instructions. Look at the waves of crimes in the country and there are no arrests and prosecutions and yet there’s a Justice Minister who believes his role is being usurped by someone like me whose role is simply to go to court? In the coming days I’ll give you details of what I think is the problem with our criminal Justice system.”
The Solicitor-General who has been questioning the authenticity of the purported SMS message and wondered how could he write a message without name of the addressee however alluded that someone might have written the purported SMS message from his confession and is demanding the name of the recipient of the SMS message before further comments.