President George Weah has reportedly rejected Chief Justice Francis Saye Korkpor successor at the Supreme Court due to “unethical conduct” of the replacer in a case presided over for almost 10 years and still there is no outcome.
Justice Korkpor named the Commercial Court Judge, Eva Mappy-Morgan as his successor, but she was said to be rejected by the President because of her alleged “unethical behavior.”
Judge Mappy-Morgan was allegedly implicated in a US$3.3 million matter she presided as judge and partisan.
According to our source, both the judiciary and executive branches’ sources confirmed the nomination, but considered the rejection by President Weah as a slapped in the face of the outgoing chief justice whose retirement date is September 5 of this year.
Justice Korkpor will retire from the Supreme Court as Chief Justice when he turns 70 years this year and he has the option to nominate his replacement thereby naming Eva Mappy-Morgan.
But when Korkpor submitted the judge name in person to the president, he (Weah) immediately responded to the chief justice by asking him to make known the outcome of the case between MOTC and DP (Ducor Petroleum) which Mappy-Morgan presided over but then, Korkpor became dumbed-founded.
The President’s reaction to the nominee, the sources went further, is a direct rejection telling the chief justice to search for his own replacement as the ball is in the court of Justice Korkpor.
It has been more than a year now since the Supreme Court failed to reach a decision on the fate of Judge Eva Mappy Morgan because the case has lingered in the Court for years and has taken on several twists and turns in the process.
Apparently, leaving complainant Amos Brosius in a lurch, not knowing which way to turn for justice. Brosius, a party litigant in the case Monrovia Oil Trading Company (MOTC) versus Ducor Petroleum (DP), filed a complaint before the Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC), accusing Judge Mappy Morgan, Chief Judge of the 3-member panel of the Commercial Court, of unethical conduct.
The case stemmed from an original complaint filed against Brosius and his Ducor Petroleum by MOTC, accusing Brosius of stealing money from the MOTC while he was serving in a senior position in the company.
The MOTC, owned in part by James Sirleaf (Deceased), son of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, contended that it was their money that Brosius used to establish and finance the operations of his Ducor Petroleum Company but Brosius denied the allegations as contained in his lawsuit as untrue.
MOTC lawsuit during President Johnson-Sirleaf second term. Because of the nature of the accusations and, against claims and counterclaims by both parties, the Commercial Court under presiding Judge Mappy Morgan ordered a freeze on Brosius’ Ducor Petroleum account at the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) until final legal disposition of the matter.
But while the matter was still pending before the Court, Counselor Negbalee Warner of the Heritage Partners Law Firm, representing MOTC on July 23, 2013, wrote Judge Mappy Morgan requesting the lifting of the freeze on the LBDI account of the Ducor Petroleum.
And with unusual speed, the next day, July 24, 2013 Judge Morgan, again expressing concerns of her colleagues on the 3-member Panel, wrote a letter instructing the President of the LBDI to pay to the Bailiff of the Commercial Court the amount of US$212,704.36.
The money was allegedly paid and delivered to Judge Mappy Morgan, according to sources at the Temple of Justice. But just what happened to the money since it was delivered to Judge Mappy Morgan is a question which has since gone unanswered.
The JIC deliberated on the matter and submitted its findings, faulting Judge Mappy Morgan and recommending the imposition of sanctions including the forfeiture of salary and benefits for a period of one calendar year.
However, a leaked memo at the time from the chairperson of the JIC, Associated Justice Yussif Kaba, to Chief Justice Korkpor, attempting to absolve Judge Mappy Morgan of criminal accountability, sparked public rage which appears to have been reasons why the matter went back to the Supreme Court.
A vote taken by members of that body on the JIC findings ended in deadlock with Justices Korkpor and Yuoh voting in favor of sanctioning Judge Mappy Morgan while Justices Wolokollie and Nagbe (now sick) voted against the sanction.
Justice Kaba at the time recused himself since he had presided over the deliberations of the JIC which recommended the sanctioning of Judge Mappy-Morgan.
But whatever the case, the fact that the Court has so far remained unresponsive to Brosius’ request for proper accounting of his LBDI Ducor Petroleum account suggests that there could be something deeper to this mystery.
In the final analysis, the issue comes down to money. No one has yet been able to provide any explanations on the whereabouts of the money that Judge Mappy Morgan ordered to be withdrawn from Ducor Petroleum’s LBDI account.
Brosius has claimed that more than over US$3 million has been illegally withdrawn from said account. According to him, his lawyers are refusing to continue their services because he has not been able to pay their legal fees. Writes Throble Suah
