Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis S. Korkpor, Sr., has described as a ‘callous and unfounded’ lie published claims that he and 3 other Associate Justices divided US1m amongst themselves, while outlining the progress, which the Judiciary has made in terms of training and infrastructure.

In remarks before the National Association of Trial Judges last week, the Associate Justice clarified the claims:

“You may have read in the local dailies of late two callous and unfounded publications about funds allegedly diverted by Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.

“The stories are not true. The Associate Justices did not have feast with government funds, as reported… They did not divide one million USD amongst themselves …

“Yes, US$1.2 million dollars, and not US 1 million as reported, was received from the Government. The amount was never provided for the purchase of vehicles. Request was made for the amount to be used, and it was used: a) to have the names of sixty college graduates who were trained as associate magistrates placed on the judiciary payroll; b) pay retirement benefits for magistrates throughout the country; c) pay salaries for law school graduates on judiciary scholarships to serve as stipendiary magistrates throughout the country and d) provide salary increment for justices, all circuit and specialized court judges, magistrates and public defenders.”

Justice Korkpor further detailed the reasons for which the money was used:

“The decision to use the funds as indicated, in my view, is quite appropriate and was endorsed by all members of the Supreme Court. Now, since when, did an administrative decision by the full bench of this Court in the interest of the judiciary become an offense? I would respect the views of anyone who may disagree with the rationale of the decision itself, but to term it as “diverting money” is a complete mischief intended to expose the Supreme Court and the entire judiciary to public ridicule.”

He said due to the intended negative dimension of the publications, he was constrained to respond, adding:

“Under Judicial Canon #16, judges are told not to be apprehensive of unjust criticisms. So, normally I would not have bothered to comment on these baseless stories which violate the elementary journalistic principle of crosschecking. However, we owe it to you, the judges and the public, to set the record straight.”

He outline the Judiciary’s past problems, amongst them poor infrastructure, shortage of trained manpower, low salaries and meager benefits, but added that there have been steady improvements in these and other areas.

“I should say today that we have made steady progress. The infrastructural facilities of the judiciary are being gradually restored. If you look in and around the Temple of Justice, the main seat of the judiciary, you will see that significant repair and renovation have been done and work is still continuing. You will also see that new courthouses have been built on the grounds of the Temple of Justice. Renovation and construction works on courthouses are also taking place in other parts of the country. We thank the Government of Liberia for providing the funds. The United Nations Mission in Liberia is helping in the process. Under its Quick Impact Program, UNMIL has assisted and continues to assist the judiciary to renovate court houses, especially in the leeward counties, and where necessary, construct new ones.

“Concerning untrained manpower, we have had a few of our circuit and specialized court judges to travel abroad for seminars and refresher trainings since this Bench took seat. In June, 2008, we established the James A.A. Pierre Judicial Institute. The purpose of the institute is to provide continuing legal education and training to judicial personnel. The institute designs and conducts training programs for magistrates on substantive and procedural law, and conducts orientation for newly appointed judges. It also trains clerical and other support staff of the judiciary. Perhaps the most significant training the institute has undertaken since its establishment is the training of 60 college graduates to be deployed as associate magistrates throughout the Country.

Regarding logistics, I should say that the Government of Liberia provided vehicles to almost all circuit and specialized court judges in the past. Public defenders were also provided vehicles. We are quite aware that with the passage of time, most of the vehicles assigned to circuit judges are now old and worn out and have outlived their usefulness. There is plan to replace the vehicles during the coming fiscal year to ease the transportation problems of our judges.

“With respect to the issue of remuneration, I say that progress has also been made. The salaries and benefits for judges and other judicial workers have increased. Let me say that until wages of judges and support staff within the judiciary are at a level satisfactory to commensurate with qualification and performance, we will not rest. We will continue to engage appropriate government authorities in seeking the welfare of the judiciary in this direction…”

He said there existed  “a judiciary plagued and beset with many problems some of which I have just highlighted; a judiciary which had been neglected by successive administrations; and a judiciary whose independence and integrity had been sorely comprised. Because of these many daunting problems, especially the problems of low salaries and benefits, many lawyers were not willing to leave lucrative private law practice to accept judicial positions. But we accepted to work in the judicial system as it was.”

He added: “I have talked more on the issue of remuneration for us judges to make a point”.