The management of the Henries, Kruah & Associates Law Firm, has rejected media reports of a conflict of interest scandal involving its retainer-ship with the National Port Authority (NPA).
Frontpage Africa Newspaper, in its Thursday, June 27, 2024 edition, claimed to have uncovered a conflict of interest transaction between the law firm and the National Port Authority, in which two checks, US$38,500 and US$15,000, amounting to US$53,000, were issued by the NPA management to the Henries, Kruah & Associates Law Firm, a transaction the paper claims “legal experts” say violates professional standards.
The law firm clarified that all of its transmissions with the NPA as its client, are legal and legitimate, and at no time did the two entities ever get involved with illegitimate business.
Henries, Kruah & Associates also stated that Labor Minister, Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah, Sr, whom the paper referenced, is a former partner at the law firm but no longer associates with its activities, neither does he run or control the running of the firm as it’s being insinuated.
The firm also stressed that its legal relationship with the National Port Authority began as far back as 2001, under the signature of its senior partner, Cllr. George E. Henries, and all of its renewals and/or reactivations during the Gyude Bryant, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and George Weah administrations, bear the signature of Cllr. Henries who is still at the law firm.
The law firm noted that the current NPA management team, headed by Mr. Sekou H. Dukuly, is working with an existing and legitimate agreement that has been signed and confirmed by previous managing directors, including Mr. George Tubman, Matilda Parker, David Williams, and Madam Diana Nebo of both the administrations of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and George Manneh Weah.
Henries, Kruah & Associates Law Firm maintained that it is a legal entity that does legitimate business with all of its valuable clients including the National Port Authority.
The law firm advised journalists and media institutions to endeavor to seek clarity on matters before drawing conclusions that have the propensity to injure the reputations of other individuals or institutions.
The funds, according to the paper, were compensation for defending the NPA in a case involving 10 employees dismissed by port’s Managing Director Dukuly, and had filed for “unlawful dismissals” at the Sixth Judicial Circuit Law Court at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia on March 29, 2024.
But the Independent Civil Society Union of Liberia said these latest attacks on the character of Cllr. Kruah are nothing but a continuation of several failed character-assassination campaigns directed towards him since his nomination and appointment as Minister of Posts & Telecommunications by former President George Weah in 2018, and continued up to his nomination as Minister of Justice and later Minister of Labor earlier this year by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
The group has vowed to expose those it referred to as greedy, short-sighted, and politically misguided individuals who feed on disinformation, blackmail, and bootlicking.
