President Sirleaf’s position on Knucklesgate II was most troubling last week, according to observers. She conceded that some of the emails may have truth in them, denied possible link to emails or to their authors, and called Knuckles’ role in the affair a “despicable at of betrayal”.

That roused immediate public suspicion. She then moved nimbly to cover up what appeared a Freudian slip, when she suggested that the emails may hold some truth, by setting up the Dun Commission to probe the matter and make recommendations to government. That should put the matter to rest, in the minds of many, pending the outcome of the commission’s probe.

But a concerned citizen, A. Dairus Dillon, Sr., believes there is more action to be taken, lest the President risks being implicated in the suspected crime.

The Analyst Staff Writer has been looking at Mr. Dillon’s contentions and observers’ take.

“In one of your initial steps to honestly show proof of your innocence of this matter, you are said to have advised Mr. Knuckles to “keep his distance” from you during the period of the investigation.  This move is laudable.

“I respectfully suggest that you also consider taking similar or other temporary administrative actions against Cllr. Estrada Bernard who is also your Legal and Security Advisor, Maritime Commissioner Beyan Kesselley, and Justice Minister Philip A.Z. Banks.”

There were the core lines of Mr. Dillon’s contention in an open letter he addressed to President Sirleaf last Friday. 

Even though he agreed with President Sirleaf that the suspected involvement of Mr. Knuckles in the bribery racket was a “despicable act of betrayal”, Dillon said the issue at hand goes beyond simply ostracizing a private political aide to require administrative sanctions against all those named in the scandal, pending the outcome of any probe.  Dillon is a concerned employee of the Capitol Building in Monrovia.

He hailed the President’s role in polishing the image of Liberia and placing it in the comity of nations but warned that all this could be jeopardized unless the President acted quickly to ensure that the mess created by trusted aides and political associates does not soil her reputation such as to warrant constitutional against her.

Dillon, who described Knucklesgate II as “a very serious allegation”, said the President has taken two commendable initial steps that involved detaching herself from the scandal and subsequently establishing the Dr. Elwood Dunn Probe Commission.

But, according to him, the membership of the commission needed to be strengthened with forensic experts with the relevant technological know-how, lest the President’s initial steps ring hollow.

He said because the emails, whose link to Mr. Knuckles the President described as “a despicable act of betrayal”, are the very emails that implicated her security advisor and justice minister, what they claim was a possible breach of the law that could not be overlooked.

“These allegations seem to breach Subchapter D. Sections 12.50, 12.51, 12.52 and of the Penal Law of Liberia,” he said.

He quoted the sections as saying that “A person has committed bribery, a second degree felony, if he knowingly offers, gives or agrees to give another, solicits, accepts or agrees to accept from another, a thing of value as consideration for:  (a) The recipient’s official action as a public servant; or (b) The recipient’s violation of a known duty as a public servant.”

While the provision on “defense precluding” holds that the accused may be held liable even if it is proven that he lacks jurisdiction to act, the provision on the establishment of prima facie case contends that “a prima facie case is establish upon proof that the thing of value was offered, given, or agreed to be given…”.  

These legal clarifications, observers say, bring into question Mr. Dillon’s contention that President Sirleaf could exonerate herself from the scandalous emails by imposing administrative sanction on Messrs. Bernard, Kesselly, and Banks pending the outcome of the probe commission.   

“Does administrative punitive sanction, now, not a prejudicial action that has no legal backing?” wondered one observer who said while Dillon’s concerns were those of the Liberian people; he was deliberately or inadvertently placing the cart before the horse.

He said Dillon’s legal quotes were quite in place, but that they unfortunately apply only after a proof of wrongdoing was presented to the court of law.

“Even at that, the accused will only be indicted for first degree misdemeanor for soliciting and receiving a ‘thing of pecuniary value, having engaged in official action as a public servant or having violated a legal duty as a public servant’,” he said.

He said this can mean only one thing: any action on the suspects, legal or administrative, while a non-judicial probe is being conducted is the violation of the constitutional and civil rights of the officials linked by the emails to the crime of bribery.

“What Dillon should be calling for now is not administrative sanction or presidential ostracism pending the outcome of the probe which may or may not turn up anything, but a quick probe into the allegations to establish the proof of wrongdoing or innocence.

"By taking punitive action against those implicated in the scandal, the President will be repeated the misdeeds of past administrations that she should not be engaging in – punishment before investigation,” said another observer.

He said in the haste to get the accused off the back of the President, to establish her innocence lest she be incriminated and impeached perhaps for her association with the accused, Mr. Dillon forgot to put things into perspective: collection of prima facie evidence, arrest and/or indictment, and prosecution, before acquitting if the accused are innocent, or sentencing if the accused are found guilty of any legal breach.

“Liberia must now use the laws to hold wrongdoers in check. It cannot claim to be reforming and yet resort to the illegal practices of the past where mere suspicion was enough to lock a person up for months without charge or trial for want of prima facie evidence to prosecute.

This is wrong; it got us where were we were just two years ago. We must advocate against illegality; but, we must do so within the confines of the law, not through rash solutions,” he said.

Meanwhile Dillon said the steps he recommends will be seen by the public and the international community as impartial appropriate steps to erase the negative perception that Mr. Knuckles was acting with President Sirleaf’s knowledge and consent.