By Grace Q. Bryant
The full bench of the Supreme Court has ordered the former Defense Minister Brownie Samukai and others to restitute the full amount US$1, 147,656.35 or 50% within the period of six month.
According to the full bench ruling, the appellants’ sentence is to serve a term of two years each in a common jail however the sentence will be suspend provided the said appellants shall restitute the amount in full.
The high court added that if the appellants fail to restitute as stated, they shall be incarcerated in the common jail and remain therein until the full amount is paid or liquidated at the rate of US$ 25 per month as provided for by law.
“The clerk of this court is ordered to send a mandate to the court below to resume jurisdiction over this case and give effect to this judgment,” the high court ruled.
Appellants Brownie J. Samukai, Joseph P. Johnson and Nyumah Dorkor were charged with the crimes of Theft of Property, Criminal Conspiracy, Economic Sabotage and Money Laundering.
The ruling explained that the evidence cued from the records showed that the appellants were signatories of the AFL Pension Account therefore every withdrawal from the account should have been by authorization.
The ruling added that the amount on the instruction of the former President of Liberia was without the pale of the law and the appellants are held personally liable for the unauthorized expenditures on the account.
The ruling further explained that there is unrefuted evidence gathered from the records of the case that the soldiers of the AFL compulsorily contributed to the funds lodged in the AFL Pension Account established at Ecobank Liberia Limited, the said account is not a public account intended for the operational use of the Ministry of National defense.
“A person is guilty of misuse of public funds where he disposes of, uses or offers any interest in property which is entrusted to him as fiduciary and in his capacity as a public servant or any officer of an institution, in a manner he is not authorized and that he knows to involve risk of loss or detriment to owner of the property or to the Government of Liberia or other person for those benefit the property was entrusted,” the ruling explained.
Defendants, Samukai, Johnson and Dorkor were adjudged Guilty of the crimes of Theft of Property, Misused of Public money and Criminal conspiracy by the Criminal Court ‘C’ and thereby ordered to restitute the amount of USD 687,656.35 to the AFL pension Saving account and USD 460,000.00 to the government of Liberia account, making a sum total of USD1, 147,656.35.
The lower court did not see enough evidence of Economic Sabotage and Money laundering therefore, the both charges are ordered dismissed while the sentence was pending the pronouncement of a pre-sentence investigation in accordance to Chapter 31, Section 31.5 of the Criminal Procedural Law.
The clerk was the ordered to communicate with the probation service of Montserrado County to proceed to conduct pre-sentence investigation of the defendants and report to the court in 15 days as of the date of that lower court’s ruling but the defendants’ legal team took an exception and ran to the Supreme