On Thursday, September 14, 2023, the Judge of the Debt Court, James Jones, acting on special assignment, ruled on the Milad Hage Testate Estate matter and gave a whopping US$20,000 to Oumou Sirleaf following a previous US$10,000 he gave her just a few weeks ago.
Speaking to the Hot Pepper on the matter, the mother of Nohad Hage Mensah, the first Liberian child of Milad Hage, Edith Hage-Smith, said, “What is so wrong about Judge Jones’ action is that he has not enforced the Supreme Court’s mandate since September 2022 but is, instead, doing his own thing and showing extreme favoritism to Oumou Sirleaf, at the detriment of Mr. Milad R. Hage’s children–the real beneficiaries.”
“For example,” Edith Hage-Smith explained, “the Supreme Court mandated Oumou and the Curator to provide proper accounting for their administration of the testate estate from 2014 to present within a three-month period; however, it has been more than a year now and Oumou and the Curator, Mr. Stephen Clarke, have outrightly refused to provide proper accounting, thus hiding all the millions of United States dollars collected.”
She wondered what Sirleaf and Clarke have been doing with the millions of dollars collected since 2014, as they continue to defy and disrespect the highest court in the land, with Judge Jones allegedly doing nothing about it. “Stephen Clarke is now even brave to request for money from the testate estate for his personal use. Stephen Clarke and Oumou continue to disrespect the court by refusing to provide proper accounting of their stewardship, but when they ready they say, ‘We sick oooh judge; please gives us some money,” Nohad Hage Mensah’s mother angrily expressed.
“Keep in mind that this proper accounting requirement is something that should be routinely done each year and filed with the court, but nothing like that has happened since 2014. The Supreme Court mandated that they must do it, but Oumou and Mr. Clarke vehemently refused,” she claimed.
According to her, “It is interesting to note that whenever the issue of proper accounting is raised in court, Oumou and the Curator will claim that they are sick; however, when Judge Jones awards money the Curator goes to write the checks while Oumou will be in court to stare down the judge with ‘dirty eyes’,” Edith Hage-Smith continued.
Furthermore, she said, observers are beginning to notice a short Lebanese old man, Tony Hage, around the court. “He is not a relative of the deceased; in fact, Mr. Milad R. Hage could not see eye to eye with Tony when he was alive. This Lebanese old man is constantly in Judge Jones’ face. Almost every day you go to the Debt Court you will see Tony Hage. And when he goes in to see the judge, they will spend the longest in there. Tony Hage and Oumou are working hand-in-hand. In fact, they present themselves to the court as one party,” she added.
“When you add the fact that Oumou’s lawyer, Arthur Johnson, is in the habit of copying the Chief Justice when requesting for money from a subordinate judge; Tony Hage is constantly in Judge Jones face; Judge Jones is allowing Oumou and the Curator to constantly disrespect the court without doing anything and, at the same time, rewarding Oumou with thousands of US dollars, it will then become crystal clear that Reverend and Judge James E. Jones is acting for the benefit of Oumou Sirleaf, at the detriment of the other beneficiaries,” Hage-Smith, mother to one of the beneficiaries, explained.
She observed, “Oumou Sirleaf is not sick to go to court and collect big checks; Stephen Clarke is not sick to write big checks to Oumou Sirleaf; the Lebanese papay, Tony Hage, is constantly in Judge Jones face; and Oumou’s lawyer, Arthur Johnson, is intimidating Judge Jones by copying the Chief Justice on requests to a subordinate judge.”
Edith Hage-Smith describe the sequence as corruption. “We will continue to monitor and expose any corruption, as Judge Jones needs to follow the law and not reward perpetrators of injustice. He needs to rule on the Referee Panel Report, transfer the title issue as mandated by the Supreme Court and not try to put his spin on it to benefit Milad Hage’s girlfriend, Oumou Sirleaf,” she stated.
