By John Stewart
LIBERIA – Chief Justice Youh, congratulations on your preferment to serve our dear country which I sincerely hope you will do to the best of your help ability, so help you, God.
Having said this, let me say that I a concerned that Commercial Court Chief Judge Eva Mappy is still sitting pretty even after the Judicial Inquiry Committee had found her guilty of ethical misconduct.
It is my understanding that you were one of those Associate Justices who voted in favor of a reprimand against her. I have also learned with dismay that you have since reversed that decision for reasons which to the best of publicly available information, remain unknown.
Now that you have assumed that noble office which, according to many including lawyers, was desecrated by your predecessor, his Dishonor Chief Injustice Francis Saye Korkpor, the public wants to know why Judge Wollor would be sanctioned for alleged unethical misconduct while Judge Mappy Morgan would go scot-free.
It appears as though the findings and recommendations of the Judicial Inquiry Committee(JIC) recommending punitive action against Judge Eva Mappy Morgan for ethical misconduct did not or does not matter at all.
Quite frankly, I am in pain and finding it extremely difficult to digest. From all indications and to the best of my lay understanding of the law, phone calls are not admissible evidence in a court of law.
Judge Mappy contends, allegedly, that she had phone consultations with lawyers representing Amos Brosius following Cllr. Negabalee Warner’s letter of July 24, 2013, requesting the lifting of the freeze on Brosius’ LBDI account.
However, lawyers representing Brosius have denied her claims and to the best of publicly available information, the is nothing on record to attest to this.
According to my lay understanding of the law, he/she who alleges the existence of a fact is under obligation to prove it. So far judge Mappy Morgan has, to the best of publicly available information, failed to establish or prove the existence of the alleged facts.
I maintain this because I believe the Judicial Inquiry Committee (JIC) composed of men and women of integrity that includes or included the well-respected Catholic Sister Mary Laurene Brown would have taken such alleged fact into consideration before arriving at a decision recommending punitive against Judge Mappy Morgan for ethical misconduct.
Judge Mappy Morgan, according to information appealed against the decision of the JIC to the full Bench of the Supreme Court which you now head. It is also my understanding that you voted in favor of punitive action against Judge Mappy Morgan.
By the way, I am further informed that both of Judge Mappy Morgan’s colleagues on the three-man panel of Judges disagreed with Judge Mappy Morgan’s decision to lift the freeze on Brosius’s account based on a letter written by Cllr. Negbalee Warner.
Without any legal justification based on judicial determination and outcome maintained that the money in Brosius’ account indeed owned or belonged to the Monrovia Oil Trading Company which he represented as a lawyer.
As you may be aware, a day following the July 24, 2013 letter from Cllr. Negbalee Warner, Judge Mappy on July 25, 2013, wrote the then President of the LBDI John Davies ordering to pay to the Bailiff of the Commercial Court the sum of US$212, 000 which according to informed sources was delivered to Judge Mappy Morgan.
I have tried as much as humanly possible to discern reasons why she ordered the withdrawal of such an amount to have the same delivered to her but I have yet to find the answer to this question.
Just what she did with the money remains unclear as she has since failed to provide information to the public on this matter. Former Chief Injustice, His Dishonor Francis Saye Korkpor remained tightlipped on the matter until he left office.
The challenge is now yours. Ethical Misconduct is Ethical Misconduct whether committed by Judge Sekajipo Wollor or by Judge Eva Mae Mappy Morgan.
The public rightfully expects that there should be no cherry-picking on this issue out of fear, favor, or respect for persons meaning that JUSTICE will be dispensed with cold, transparent neutrality Your Honor for therein lies the Honor, Dignity, and Respect of the Court.
I rest my case for now.
