The Jury of the Civil Law Court Annex ‘B’ will on today, Friday, January 31, 2025, deliver its verdict in the ongoing US$700,000 libel lawsuit against Ecobank-Liberia, Alex Williams former Deputy Director General for Statistics and Data Processing at Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS) and Yussif Kromah, an employee of the bank.
Regrettably, Ecobank is the lone defendant that is being tried in the case. The case against Eco-bank will be decided faster than many pundits both in court and people following had expected.
Prior to the verdict, the jury will have to listen to the closing arguments from the bank’s lawyers and those of Wilmot Smith, dismissed former Deputy Director General for Information Coordination at LISGIS, and the jury will immediately begin its deliberations after both parties’ arguments.
During the trial, the bank’s argument had been based on its investigative findings which established that Yussif S. Kromah, its Reconciliation Officer assigned to the Card Operation Department, leaked information of LIGIS’s account details to Mr. Alex Williams, who is not authorized by LISGIS and a non-signatory to the account. Smith is alleging that Williams manipulated the account details for his personal and selfish aims, except for the bank-client privilege.
Smith, through his lawyer Cllr. Arthur T. Johnson, argued that Williams shared the account statement with the Spoon TV social media platform, one of the widely followed talk shows outside of the country.
Williams and Spoon TV used the leaked information to incriminate Smith for illegally withdrawing US$1.7million from LISGIS’s account with the bank, an amount intended to pay enumerators for the National Housing and Population Census for his personal benefits. But, the bank had argued that after the investigation, they dismissed Kromah from its employment, as such they can’t be held liable for Kromah’s actions.
Under the doctrine of Respondent’s superior, an employer is vicariously liable for its employee tortuous acts within the scope of their employment for which the principle is well established under the Liberian law.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court had repeatedly held that an employer is liable for the acts of an employee, when such acts are committed in the course of employment and within the scope of the employee’s duties.
These are the arguments that the petit jury decision is expected to focus on. On January, 28, 2025, Judge Scheaplor Dunbar of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia set tomorrow, Friday, January 31, 2025, for final argument in the ongoing trial between the former LISGIS Boss Wilmot Smith and Ecobank Liberia Limited.
The decision as to whether or not the US$700,000 damages case against Ecobank will be proven by Smith’s lawyers or disproven by the bank’s lawyers, as the Judge requested each party to file their legal memorandum latest yesterday, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.
It can be recalled that the Chambers Justice Presiding at the Supreme Court held arguments between the two parties and upheld determination in the matter. But on January 28, 2025, a mandate from the Supreme Court Chambers Justice Yamie Qui-qui Gbeisay ordered Judge Dunbar to proceed with the matter.
Based on this, Judge Dunbar commanded the clerk of court to read the mandate to the Petit Jury of the court, stating that the matter will be argued on Friday. Both Smith and Ecobank have rested with production of oral and documentary evidence and production of witnesses.
Ecobank filed a Writ of Certiorari against Judge Dunbar of the Civil Law Court “B” pleading with the Justice-In-Chambers to place a stay order on the proceedings. The request was contested on January 23, 2025 and ruling was reserved. Now, all is set for today’s argument and the coming down of the petit jury’s verdict.
By T.Q. Lula Jaurey
