MONROVIA: A request has been made to the newly inducted Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Sie-A-Nye Yuoh, to see reason to forward the case between the Monrovia Oil Trading Corporation (MOTC), and Amos Brosius of the Ducor Petroleum Incorporated to a different court.
Last week, the Supreme Court of Liberia formally asked its Grievance and Ethics Committee to investigate Counselors Tiawan Saye Gongloe, Viama Blama, Nyanati Tuan, Wellington Bedell, and Monthly and Probate Court Judge, Nicolar Edwards, which would focus on their respective roles in the handling of the Ducor Petroleum Incorporated case.
Cllr. Tuan is the Deputy Minister of Justice for Codification, but over the weekend, he was nominated by President George Manneh Weah for the post of Solicitor General of Liberia, replacing the resigned Solicitor General of Liberia, Cllr. Sayma Syrenius Cephus at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
Cllr. Gongloe is a renowned human rights lawyer, former President of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) and a Liberian Presidential Aspirant. These lawyers once served the legal interest of Amos Brosius in the Ducor Petroleum case.
The case ended with a complaint in which Judge Eva Mappy Morgan of the Commercial Court was accused of unethical behavior.
Judge Morgan is also top Professor of Law at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law of the University of Liberia (UL).
Brosius and his lawyers had complained that Morgan’s decision to lift the stay order on the Ducor Petroleum escrow account, without their knowledge or approval, was improper on grounds that the request came from the lawyer of the Monrovia Oil Trading Company, Cllr. T. Negbalee Warner.
Cllr. Warner is former Dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law of the University of Liberia (UL).
Interestingly, the Judicial Inquiry Commission, last year, ruled that Brosius and his lawyers’ claim was valid, asking the Supreme Court of Liberia to suspend the Chief Judge of the Commercial Court for a year without pay and benefits for improperly, as well as subjecting Warner to an unprofessional and unethical probe.
However, the High Court on Monday, September 26, overturned the Commission’s ruling, saying Mappy Morgan’s decision to lift the stay order on the US$3.3 million escrow account while the case was being litigated was not in violation of the Judicial Canons, status, or the Act that established the Commercial Court of Liberia, absolving the judge of the Commission’s findings.
The Court then exonerated Cllr. Warner but subjected Brosius’ lawyers to a probe for unethical behavior, particularly regarding the complaint against Morgan, whom the Court has vindicated.
But, Brosius believes, considering the fact that lawyers representing Ducor Petroleum Incorporated and its Manager, Amos Brosius, have been investigated based on an allegation filed against them by the Commercial Court.
Brosius told the media during the weekend in Monrovia that in September 2019, he filed a complaint against Associate Judges Chanchan Paegar and Richard Klah which is still pending before the Judiciary Inquiry Commission (JIC).
He said all those factors, coupled with the fact that for the past 5 years, the Chief Judge of the Commercial Court and he (Brosius) were in a serious battle that makes it unlikely that he will ever get justice in the commercial court.
Brosius went further that he is in possession of the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of Liberia, dated Monday, September 26, 2022, and its dissenting opinion thereof.
“I disagree with the majority opinion for reasons that are better stated in the dissenting opinion and the JIC report that were signed by Chief Justice and Associate Justice, Yussif D. Kaba respectively,” he stated.
However, Brosius says he has been compelled by law to respect the opinion of the Supreme Court. “Therefore, I humbly submit to it as a law-abiding citizen.”
He further indicated that he also took note of excerpts of the charge of Chief Justice Yuoh, who has committed herself to dispense justice without fear or favor, stating, “I felt a sigh of relief when I heard Justice Yuoh commit her bench to equal justice for all without fear or favor.”
The case Amos Brosius of the Ducor Petroleum Incorporated versus the Monrovia Oil Trading Corporation (MOTC) has lingered in the commercial court for ten years now.
According to Brosius, during the period under review, the court has done only two things, namely: freeze two of Ducor Petroleum Incorporated bank accounts 006-101-470-016-4101 and 00610-147-001-641-02 hosted at Ecobank, Liberia Limited, and account #0221-215-153-401 hosted at the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI).
“The account at LBDI was unfrozen based on Counselor Negbalee Warner’s letter to Judge Eva Mappy-Morgan, dated Friday, 22 July, 2022, without the knowledge and consent of my lawyers and I,” he noted.
Brosius believes that the two accounts hosted at Ecobank, Liberia Limited remain frozen up to the present.
He added that PKF was commissioned on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, to conduct an audit of the financial transactions between Ducor and MOTC and the report was sent to the court.
“The report was completed and submitted on Monday, January 29, 2018. No further action has been taken on the audit report since it was filed with the court nearly 5 years ago,” he said.
Last week, the Supreme Court sanctioned lawyers’ representing the legal interest of Brosius to an ethics and grievance commission for investigation for alleged “unethical conduct” versus the Commercial Court.
