By Precious D. Freeman
The Director of Civil Litigation at the Ministry of Justice, Adolphus Karnuah, has described his colleague, then Acting County Attorney for Montserrado County, Swahilo Sesay, as a wounded beast searching for anyone to devour.
Karnuah’s assertion comes as a result of a recent allegation made by Sesay that he (Karnuah) and Bobby Livingston, allegedly received US$150,000 to prosecute Gloria Musu-Scott and three other family members, in connection with Charloe Musu’s death.
According to Karnuah, at no point in time did he misapply and siphon prosecution funds intended for county attorneys of the fifteen counties, as is being insinuated and claimed by Sesay.
Speaking to judicial reporters at the Temple of Justice, Karnuah said the only reason why Sesay is accusing him is because of the communication from the controller at the Ministry of Justice commanding him to vacate and turn over all government assets, but he has since refused; stating that, as a criminal lawyer, the country’s security matters the most.
He noted that he has no personal problem with Sesay as he is a junior lawyer, stressing that he finds it difficult to understand Sesay’s “callous, reckless, and dishonest” characterization of his professional colleagues, squarely for his desperate attempt to maintain his position, claiming that the former County Attorney got no legal justification to cling onto the position
“Let me state unequivocally that at no time have I been involved in malfeasance as being propagated by Cllr. Sesay and his cohorts,” Karnuah said.
Karnuah explained, “A fortnight ago, a letter was written by Mr. Arwine Nimely, the Human Resource Director of the Ministry of Justice and the Officer in Charge at the Ministry in the absence of the nomination and appointment of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, to Cllr. Swahilo Sesay, who was appointed as Acting County Attorney of Montserrado County during the dying days of the George Weah regime. The letter, which I was copied along with Cllr. Bobby W. Livingstone by the Officer in Charge, advised Cllr. Sesay to stay away from the office of the County Attorney of Montserrado County and turn all government properties in his possession over to the relevant personnel in the Office of the County Attorney.”
Karnuah said he is convinced that it is the letter that motivated Sesay to resolve to besmearing the good character and image of him and other prosecutors they consider to be behind the said letter, adding that Sesay’s onslaught against him (Karnuah) and other prosecutors, of which he continues to lie and misinform the public that he, along with other prosecutors, received the amount of US$150,000 and misapplied it, has no legal strength.
“Let me inform the general public that at no time did I receive that amount of money being speculated from the Ministry of Justice. What Cllr. Sesay and Garmah Lomo fail to realize and acknowledge is that, this is not the first time that money has been given for the trial or prosecution of major criminal cases at the Ministry of Justice. It is a normal practice at the Ministry. For instance, prosecution fundings were allotted and given from the Ministry’s coffers for the trial of the CBL, Cyber Mining; Angel Tokpah; Charles Julu; Charles Gyude Bryant, and many other cases, for the purpose of underwriting the costs of those trials,” he mentioned.
He said the murder case involving Gloria Musu Scott and three others being of no exception and being a high-profile case, the Ministry of Justice allotted and disbursed the amount of about US$130,000 to account for the expenses associated with the successful trial and prosecution of the case.
“As one of the lead lawyers and prosecutors, I received from the office of the Comptroller the amount of US$7,000 as stipend and other amenities, to cover other expenses during the pendency of the trial. The records are with the office of the comptroller of the Ministry of Justice,” he said.
