MOJ Seeks Supreme Court Opinion on Samukai

The Supreme Court has reserved its ruling regarding the bill of information filed by the Ministry of Justice seeking the court's interpretation of the modified verdict against Brownie J. Samukai and his two former deputies.

The bill of information comes against Judge Ousmane Feika of Criminal Court 'C’ for allegedly misinterpreting the Supreme Court’s ruling to separate the payment of liabilities by Samukai and his partners in crime.

It added that the Supreme Court's modification did not affect the lower court apportioned of the payment by Samukai and his co-defendants. Prosecutors then prayed the court not to grant Samukai and his co-defendants’ addition as the time stipulated for the payment of the 50 percent has elapsed since August.

Instead, prosecutors called for imprisonment, as mandated by the Supreme Court, for failure to restitute half of the money in the six months period. 

Samukai, who is a senator-elect of Lofa county, was found guilty by Criminal Court 'C' along with his co-defendants Joseph P. Johnson and James Nyumah Dorkor for illegally withdrawing more than US$1.4 million from the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) pension fund.

However, Samukai and his co-defendants took an appeal to the Supreme Court in 2020 after they had been given two years suspended prison sentences with a condition to restitute US$1.4 million over a one-year period.

The Supreme Court however affirmed the verdict from the lower court with some modification in February 2021.   And while modifying the lower court's ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that the trio should restitute the full amount or 50 percent of it within six months and the rest paid in a calendar year.

Before then, the then Judge of  Criminal Court 'C', Yamie Quiqui Gbeisaye, had found Samukai and co-defendant guilty of the crimes of Theft of Property, Misuse of Public money, and Criminal conspiracy, and ordered them to pay US$687,656.35 to the AFL pension Saving account and US$460,000.00 to the government of Liberia account, making a sum total of USD1,147,656.35

Though Samukai has paid US$173,276.05 as some portion of his share of money illegally withdrawn from the AFL pension funds, his two defendants have not, despite being found guilty jointly.

Samukai, together with Johnson and Dorkor, were to pay the amount of US$687,656.35 within a six-month period to avoid imprisonment.  But after he had made some payment, the Supreme Court then ordered the National Elections Commission not to certify him until the disability imposed on him as a result of his conviction of a felony is removed. 

The Ministry is also praying the Supreme Court to revoke the initial payment made by Samukai as his own share, on grounds that the money should have been paid jointly as they were charged and found guilty together. 

The payment deadline was on August 10, and if the parties had not lived up to the mandate, they were expected to serve their two years prison sentence. However, the lower court had to halt a pretrial conference on August 26, due to the MOJ's request to the Supreme Court.

Samukai's lawyers argued that their client has completed his portion of the 50% liability, while the Ministry is arguing that the defendants should pay their liability jointly.