Liberia: County Attorney Sesay Condemned Again over US$150K Claims
: Montserrado County Attorney, Cllr. Swahilo Sesay
The head of Civil Litigation at the Ministry of Justice, Cllr. Adolphus Karnuah has responded to allegations involving a reported misuse of US$150,000 by prosecutors at the ministry, refuting claims made by Montserrado County Attorney, Cllr. Swahilo Sesay.
The funds in question were intended for the prosecution of the Charloe Musu murder trial. Cllr. Sesay accused MOJ prosecutors of mishandling the funds, specifically referencing Cllr. Adolphus Karmuah.
The funds, Sesay revealed, were released by Comptroller Milton Gaye to former Solicitor General, Counselor Nyenati Tuan, with the intention of using it for transportation, accommodation, and other related expenses if the case were to be transferred outside of Monrovia.
However, Karmuah, the allotted amount of about US$130,000, was disbursed by the Ministry of Justice to cover expenses related to the successful prosecution of the high-profile murder case involving Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott, and three others.
He stated that he received a stipend of US$7,000 for trial-related expenses. He clarified that each County Attorney in Liberia receives prosecution funds directly, not through his office. Karmua defended the use of funds, citing it as a standard practice at the Ministry for various trials.
“As one of the lead lawyers and prosecutors, I received from the Office of the Comptroller the amount of US$7,000, as a stipend and other amenities to cover other expenses during the pendency of the trial,” Karmuah claims. “The records are with the Office of the Comptroller of the Ministry of Justice.”
Responding to the accusation that lawyers representing the case misapplied the funds, Karmuah contended that “at no point in time, did I misapply and siphon prosecution funds intended for other County Attorneys of the fourteen political subdivisions of the Country as Sesay claimed.”
According to Karmuah, each County Attorney of Liberia is paid his prosecution funds directly or through checks or bank transfers and not through his office.
“As a matter of fact, as the Director of Civil Litigation, I am entitled to my own prosecution fund, which I periodically sign for in written checks whenever the said fund is available,” Karmuah disclosed.
In defense of the funds, Karmua said, it has been a normal practice at the Ministry. He said, “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 refuted claims of misappropriation and maintained that the allegations were based on a letter from Mr. Arwine Nimely, the Human Resource Director of the Ministry of Justice. Karnuah emphasized that the situation arose due to a directive advising Sesay to relinquish his duties as Acting County Attorney of Montserrado County.
Nimely, Karnuah explained, is the current officer-in-charge at the Ministry, in the absence of the confirmation of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and not Sesay who was appointed as Acting County Attorney of Montserrado County during the dying days of the George Weah administration.
The letter, he said, was copied to Cllr. Bobby W. Livingstone and advised 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.
“I am convinced that it is this letter that has motivated Sesay to resort to besmearing the good character and image of me and other prosecutors [who] they consider being behind the said letter,” he observed. “In his onslaught against me and other prosecutors; he continued to lie and misinform the public that I, along with other prosecutors, received the amount of US$150,000 and misapplied same.”
He suggested that this directive may have influenced Sesay’s accusations against him and other prosecutors, asserting that the claims of mismanagement of the US$150,000 were unfounded.