By Lincoln G. Peters
Liberia: The Commercial Court, at the Temple of Justice, was on Tuesday, January 25, thrown into confusion.
The confusion arose from a dispute over legal representation in the Petition for Accounting suit filed against Amos Brosius, the general manager of Ducor Petroleum Incorporated by the Monrovia Oil Trading Corporation (MOTC).
The management of MOTC, one of the disputed parties to the operation of Ducor, in 2013 filed the suit against Brosius, accusing him (Brosius) of misapplying funds that were generated from the sale of petroleum products, the claim Brosius, had denied, leaving to the lawsuit for accounting.
The confusion on Tuesday began when the court scheduled for hearing of the accounting lawsuit, though Brosius, on September 15, 2021, wrote the court informing the three penal judges excluding Chief Judge Eva Mappy Morgan, about his inability to continue with his legal team, because he had no money to pay them.
By then Brosius had claimed that Judge Morgan without his knowledge removed the stay order that the parties – Brosius and the MOTC – agreed for the judge to freeze the Ducor Petroleum’s escrow account housed at the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI), pending the outcome of the accounting lawsuit.
The decision of the judge, Brosius claimed, led to MOTC allegedly withdrawing the amount of US$3million from the account.
Brosius said since there is no money left in the account because of Judge Morgan’s alleged deliberate decision, his lawyers were no more interested in representing his legal interest in the matter.
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Dramatically, Brosius on Tuesday represented himself, but the case could not be heard in the absence of his lawyers.
The judges were compelled to postpone further hearing into the matter. They recommended a conference between the parties – Brosius and MOTC.
While the suit was still undecided, the Chief Judge Eva Mappy Morgan of the court, froze the company’s account.
