Criminal
Court ‘C’ Judge Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay on Thursday, April 23 sentenced two of the
three defendants that include former Defense Minister Brownie Samukai and
former deputy minister for administration Joseph P. Johnson to two years in
prison each for stealing US$1,147,656.35 out of the account of the Armed Forces
of Liberia (AFL) at the Ecobank- Liberia.
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| Former Defense Minister Brownie Samukai |
The remaining co-defendant,
former comptroller, James Nyumah Dorkor, received six-month jail sentence.
Meanwhile, the court suspended
the prison sentence on Thursday with a condition that they would restitute
significant portion of the money within the period of six-months and pay the
balance within another six-months.
The AFL’s account was opened
under the signatures of Co-defendant Brownie J. Samukai, Jr., former Minister
of National Defense as “signatory A” and Defendant J. Nyumah Dorkor, former
Comptroller of the Ministry of National Defense as “Signatory B” and Defendant
Joseph P. Johnson, former Deputy Minister for Administration, Ministry of
Defense also as “signatory A.”
In his sentencing ruling, Gbeisay
said both co-defendants, Samukai and Johnson may likely escape their two-years
prison term only if they agree to pay significant amount of that money within a
period of six-months, even-though the matter is pending appeal before the
Supreme Court, shortly after the defense lawyers rejected the initial guilty
verdict against them by the court.
Gbeisay continued: “Samukai and
Johnson are hereby sentenced to common prison for a period of two (2) years
each and that the said sentence is suspended, provided they elected to
restitute the whole or substantial amount of the judgment sum within six (6)
months and the balance stipulated to be restituted within 12 months, as of the
ruling, failure which they shall serve the full two years.”
For Dorkor, whose guilty verdict
is challenged also at the Supreme Court, Gbeisay ruled that Dorkor is going to
get six (6) months imprisonment due to his role in the commission of the crimes
and his physical health condition.
“If Dorkor elected to reserve the
right to the privacy of his health status, this court considers his physical
condition and his minor role in the commission of the crimes, [he] is hereby
sentenced to six (6) months imprisonment, which six months sentence is
suspended, provided he restitute his share of the money in whole or in
substantial part within six (6) months and file stipulation to pay
the balance in 12 months,” adding, “failure of which he shall serve the full
six(6) months in common prison and make restitution.”
Further to the sentencing,
Gbeisay explained that under Chapters 50.5 and 15, and Section 15.4 of the
Penal Law, among others, provides that “misuse of public money [is] a felony of
the first degree with a maximum prison term of ten (10) years, while theft of property,
in which the value of the property exceeds US$50,000 is a second degree felony
with a maximum prison term five (5) years respectively.”
However, Gbeisay said, since the
minimum prison term of imprisonment is not stated in the law for theft of property.
“It [is] presumably left within the sound discretion of the trial courts,
giving due consideration to the fact and circumstances of the commission of the
crimes and the defendants’ previous records.”
Judge Gbeisay’s sentence resulted
after the Probation Service Division at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) presented
a 14-day of pre-sentencing investigation report, which established that there
is no previous criminal record against any of the defendants.
Initially, Gbeisay had adjourned
the three defendants guilty of the commission of the crimes that ranged from
misuse of public money, theft of property and criminal conspiracy respectively.
But lawyers representing the
accused rejected the sentencing a as well the guilty verdict and subsequently
announced an appeal to the Supreme Court. - Africa
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