The Hot Pepper has been informed that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, His Honor Francis S. Korkpor, is yet to call a case that emanates from a complaint filed since February 17, 2021 by the Secretary of the Liberian Senate, J. Nanborlor F. Singbeh, Sr., against Cllr. Wesseh A. Wesseh, Assistant Minister for Litigation, Ministry of Justice, for alleged unethical behavior on the part of the Assistant Minister.
In a communication addressed to Chief Justice Korkpor on February 17, 2021, a copy of which is in the possession of this paper, Senate Secretary Singbeh lamented that in the February 8, 2021 edition of the Heritage, Vol. 24 No. 35162, under the headline, “Startling Revelation: Assistant Justice Minister Wesseh Requested ‘Bribes’ for Jurors”, which emanated from a leaked audio in the possession of the Heritage, Cllr. Wesseh was overheard requesting US$200 from Hans Armstrong as private prosecutor fee for jurors to indict him and others.
According to the leaked audio, Armstrong boastfully revealed that even the Justice Minister, Cllr. Musa Dean, is his best friend and lawyer while speaking to some jurors, and that if Singbeh and others were indicted he would call the jurors back for a handsome reward, and the US$200 requested for them by Cllr. Wesseh did not mean that they were being taken cheap, but he would call them back for a very good amount based on their status.
Although Cllr. Wesseh, who earlier referred to the leaked audio as not being authentic, later admitted in an interview published by a local daily on August 16, 2021 to requesting for US$200 from Armstrong as payment for service to the jurors due to the lack of funds from the Ministry of Justice to pay the services of jurors. He said it was not a bribe.
This twist-turn explanation by Cllr. Wesseh leaves more room for further deliberation on the requested money: was it legal and lawful for a state prosecutor to solicit money from a party litigant to pay jurors?
The case involving Hans Armstrong as Private Prosecutor through the Ministry of Justice versus Nanborlor Singbeh et al was dismissed recently based on a request from the defense counsel that Armstrong et al were indicted during the February 2021 Term of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court, Sanniquellie, Nimba County, through the Ministry of Justice with Mr. Singbeh as Private prosecutor. Four months after the case was filed by the Ministry of Justice in Nimba County, the very Ministry of Justice again filed a similar case at Criminal Court “C” with Armstrong, this time as Private Prosecutor, without first adjudicating the one in the 8th Judicial Circuit Court, Nimba County, which served as a basis for the dismissal of the case before Criminal Court “C”.
While the case in the 8th Judicial Circuit Court was called for on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, based on a motion for the change of place of trial, filed by counsels for Private Prosecutor, Nanborlor Singbeh, Cllr. Wesseh, instead of representing the Private Prosecutor clandestinely filed a motion for nolle prosequi, unknown to Private Prosecutor Singbeh.
The Judge of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court, having been earlier accused by defendant Armstrong of the matter presently before the Judiciary Inquiry Commission (JIC), recused himself and granted the motion for a change in venue to the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County.
When Singbeh was contacted on the matter, he emphasized, “It is very strange that Cllr. Wesseh, who weeks ago served as State Prosecutor representing the Ministry of Justice and assisted by the Gongloe and Gongloe Law Firm in the dismissed indictment in Criminal Court “C”, both are now serving in the interest of defendant Armstrong instead of representing me as Private Prosecutor, calling for the dismissal of said case without my knowledge.” He further lamented, “How can Cllr. Wesseh, who is at loggerhead with me on his support to Mr. Armstrong come at this point of time to represent me in an ill-manner of calling for the dismissal of my case without my knowledge and input, taking instruction from Justice Minister Dean, who earlier served as Counsel for Mr. Armstrong during the beginning of said matter in Nimba County.”
When quizzed on the behavior of Cllr. Wesseh, a judicial luminary, who preferred anonymity, pointed out that “the assertion made by Mr. Singbeh needs to be investigated and if found to be true Cllr. Wesseh barred from taking part in the on-going trial at the 9th Judiciary Circuit Court in Bong County, including other prosecutors from the Ministry of Justice siding with defendant Armstrong, and that Mr. Singbeh, as Private Prosecutor, be allowed to find a counsel to represent his interest”.
A former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, who preferred not to be named, also lamented that “these are the behavior of some of our colleagues that tend to undermine the integrity of our noble institution, thus bringing the Judiciary into public ridicule and disrepute. Cllr. Wesseh and those at the Ministry of Justice must be made to realize that their actions speak of a double-face dealing that must not be condoned in our jurisdiction, where everyone is equal before the law.”
Meanwhile, Senate Secretary Singbeh has reiterated his firm belief in the Judiciary system, and said he is of the fervent hope that “justice will be done in order to expose and weed out those quack lawyers that tend to destroy the good image of the judicial system just to satisfy their egocentric and personal aggrandizement, such as Justice Minister, Cllr. Musa Dean, Assistant Minister Cllr. Wesseh and their likes”.