Mai Fatty In Combat With Justice Paul!!!!

…..Lawyer Fatty Fires The Shots!!!!

PAUL THE JUDICIAL HUSTLER

 By Mai Fatty          

With barely less than 24 hours, after Justice M A Paul’s scatting attacks on his academic qualifications as a Lawyer, Mai Fatty has reacted sharply by dismissing Paul’s claims. “The Gambia Legal Council having vetted me, and having been fully satisfied that I had fulfilled the conditions required duly and rightfully admitted me to practice law as a Legal Practitioner in The Gambia. Accordingly, I was issued with an enrolment certificate, and subsequently entitled to practice my calling. Where is the impersonation? Where is the pretence Paul is talking about? Paul as a judge should deal with facts before him supported by evidence, and apply the presumption of innocence. Well, that is for judges, not a mercenary prosecutor parading in wolve’s clothing as a judge,.”said Lawyer Fatty. Evidently, the war of words  between the two legal minds is getting ugly as both parties settled old scores. Fatty in this dispatch said he is ready to engage Justice Paul at any level, while signaling that the debate is far from over. Mr. Fatty argues that his qualification as a lawyer was in tack and in turn accuses Paul of harboring grudge against him. “I had issued invitation to Paul via this public platform to discuss his record and tenure as a judge of The Gambian Judiciary. It’s curious that Paul ended his fantasies with “Mai Fatty has spoken”, because psychologically he is worried that I shouldn’t speak again. Let me remind Paul that if you go to the lions’ then, you should expect to wrestle with the lions. He, Paul, put his character as an issue, and from that point it becomes a legitimate point of discussion. It’s nothing personal,.”Fatty posited. Below is the full text of Mai Fatty’s reaction. Please read on………….

PAUL THE JUDICIAL HUSTLER

Mai Fatty

Thank you for granting the floor to Madubuchi Paul. Every person has the right to defend himself from allegations made against him, including Paul. It is a settled principle of law that no one must be condemned unheard, and a formidable pillar of the concept of natural justice. It is this adversary system of justice that accords the truth the supremacy it deserves in civilisation. I had issued invitation to Paul via this public platform to discuss his record and tenure as a judge of The Gambian Judiciary. It’s curious that Paul ended his fantasies with “Mai Fatty has spoken”, because psychologically he is worried that I shouldn’t speak again. Let me remind Paul that if you go to the lions’ then, you should expect to wrestle with the lions. He, Paul, put his character as an issue, and from that point it becomes a legitimate point of discussion. It’s nothing personal.

In his rejoinder, Paul seeks to shift focus from his horrible record as a repressive puppet to distract attention, attempting to re-focus issues on extraneous matters such as Mai Fatty is a tool of The Gambia Bar Association. Well, you have failed.

Let us start with the issues raised by this judicial hustler, and they are as follows:

1.      Mai Fatty is not a Lawyer. His academic credentials are fake, but merely being falsely protected by The Gambia Bar Association (a group of Gambian Lawyers with over 100 members).

2.    That he Paul performed satisfactorily as a Judge.

3.     That Mai Fatty impersonating as a Lawyer “transferred” his client’s assets (Baba Jobe) in his personal name pendent lite.

4.    That he was not a religious bigot and never insulted Gambian Muslims or ridiculed Islamic teachings.

5.     That he Paul was not a mercenary Judge.

We shall deal with these issues seriatim.

The issue of Mai Fatty’s qualification as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of The Gambia was laid to rest. According to the statute dealing with enrolment or admission to The Gambian Bar (The Legal Practitioners Act), the authority for determining the eligibility of a prospective Legal Practitioner exclusively vests in the General Legal Council. No other authority or person is empowered under Gambian law to deal with this issue. Membership to this Council comprised Judges, the Attorney-General and Secretary of State for Justice, Representatives of the Bar, the Public Service Commission, among others, and is chaired by the Chief Justice of The Gambia. The Secretary to this Council is also a State Law Officer of the Attorney-General’s Chambers. Before a person is admitted into The Gambian Bar, his/her name is placed on the public notice, so that the public could object to the person’s enrolment for reasons to be advanced. This applied to me as well.

The Members of the General Legal Council meet in private to vet, verify and determine the authenticity of the credentials submitted in support of a prospective Legal Practitioner’s Petition. Then the petitioner is further invited by the Council both to interview him/her on a range of issues, and if there was an objector for him/her to confront the objector. This is in line with the principle of fairness – the legal concept of audi alteram partem (hear the other side).

Firstly, I am surprised that Paul, who served on the Gambian Bench does not know the competent legal authority responsible for the admission of Lawyers in The Gambia. Assuming without conceding that he did know such an authority exists, he is ignorant of it’s functions save as to disgrace himself, which he did.  He accused the Bar Association, when in fact the Bar has no legal competence to determine issues pertaining to admission to practice law in The Gambia. It is also clear here that the body that he should have directed his concerns to is The Gambia Legal Council – the competent statutory body. Again, contrary to Paul’s contention, the Legal Council composed of his fellow Judges, the Attorney-General, and other independent distinguished personalities. It is not the Bar that sat to decide my competence as a Legal Practitioner. He is wrongly spitting his venom against The Gambian Bar for no just cause, as he claims I am the tool of the Bar.

I will now address the contention that Mai Fatty was impersonating as a Legal Practitioner. I invite Paul to read the plain meaning of the word “impersonation” in any simple English dictionary. In rudimentary parlance, it means “to pretend”. He alleged that I was pretending to be a Lawyer, when in fact I wasn’t one. Pursuant to the controlling legal authority, the Legal Practitioners Act, any person who satisfies the provisions relating to admission and enrolment as a Legal Practitioner is duly admitted. Such qualification includes completion of both the academic and vocational training, to be evidenced by verifiable documentary prove. The Gambia Legal Council having vetted me, and having been fully satisfied that I had fulfilled the conditions required duly and rightfully admitted me to practice law as a Legal Practitioner in The Gambia. Accordingly, I was issued with an enrolment certificate, and subsequently entitled to practice my calling. Where is the impersonation? Where is the pretence Paul is talking about? Paul as a judge should deal with facts before him supported by evidence, and apply the presumption of innocence. Well, that is for judges, not a mercenary prosecutor parading in wolve’s clothing as a judge.

Reference to Jatou Kah, Madam Kah can speak for herself, and this medium is open to her to corroborate Paul’s claim that she worked against my enrolment as a Lawyer. Paul will not succeed in sowing seeds of discord between me and my fellow citizens, and Jatou Kah is free to participate in the discussion to make her own case on this issue.

While appearing before him in a criminal case, one fine day, the DPP Akomaye Agim from Nigeria, his co-mercenary told Paul that IGP Landing Badgie sent a file to him that I was not a Lawyer, and so I should not appear in that case. I got up to expound on the correct legal position, including the direction that if the IGP had credible evidence that I had fake papers, that I should be prosecuted. Not surprisingly, the Director of Public Prosecutions Mr. Agim, his co-mercenary, refused to take this route because they both knew that they were lying. The purpose was to stop me from appearing for a Gambian defendant who was accused of attempting to overthrow Yaya Jammeh. I will refrain from further commenting on this case because it would constitute sub judice – the matter is still before the courts for determination.

Paul and Agim decided to suspend the criminal trial I was defending, transformed his court and usurped the statutory functions of the General Legal Council, to make a Ruling that I was not a Lawyer, and to stop me from defending cases. Knowing that my line of legal defence in the case before him was unassailable, and also knowing that if I was permitted to proceed with the case, the allegations of attempted overthrow was going to collapse, I became the stumbling block that had to be removed. This was the only reason why they conceived of the plot to make me the issue so that I would be concern about my own survival instead of defending accused persons. They were wrong and soon found out. I did not bow down.  It was IGP 13 Badgie, Paul and his co-mercenary Agim who backed out.

I remember very clearly that Pa Nderry Mbai was in court as a Reporter for The Point newspaper when the case I am alluding to was in progress. Pa Nderry Mbai is conversant with this story having covered and reported in The Point.

Paul and Agim banded together to frustrate my defence of the Gambian accused of treason on the grounds that the case will not proceed unless I step down, knowing fully well how hard it was to get Counsel in such dangerous criminal trials. The strategy was to keep the Defendant at Mile 2 for as long as possible, including keeping him there for eternity without any judicial determination. In compliance with convention, I protested this dastardly behaviour in writing to the acting Chief Justice, Justice Gibou Janneh, and to the Bar President at the time, Mr. Musa Bittaye. The Bar looked at the merits of the situation, and the senior Lawyers Surahata Janneh, Ousainou Darboe, Omar Njie, Antouman Gaye, Awa Sisay-Sabally, Musa Bittaye, etc joined me in Paul’s court. The Senior Lawyers told the duo that they were there to defend me against the bogus allegation that I had fake papers. Paul and Agim cowardly retreated and dropped the issue the very second the Bar appeared. It was never mentioned again by them at least in public.

Let me state that the appearance of the Bar was on grounds of principle. Firstly, on legal grounds, both Paul and Agim knew that they were acting ultra-vires. Secondly, the Bar knew that if they were permitted to succeed, no Gambian lawyer would freely defend an accused person, because you could be stopped in your track for false premises. They enlisted IGP Landing Badgie, whose record is no secret to Gambians. At the time, I was engaged in serious row with the IGP over the treatment of Baba Jobe’s extended family and the case itself because I am Mr. Jobe’s personal lawyer. IGP 13 Badgie saw me as an obstacle that must be removed in sending Baba Jobe to prison. I was merely defending a client in court.

Let me state with humility that factually under IGP Landing Badgie, The Gambia Police Force contacted Interpol to investigate world wide, to try to discredit my credentials. The deeper the search, the more I was being vindicated, and finally, the IGP Landing Badgie had no choice but to admit before Gambian press publicly that they were wrong, and that I was right. Pa Kemo Jarju, (PK) of allgambian.net was then reporting for The Daily Observer, and he reported it for The Daily Observer. The Police Spokesman, then Special Assistant to IGP Landing Badgie, Pa Armady Jallow told newsmen that Interpol did confirm Mr. Fatty’s credentials. Paul and his co-mercenary Agim were tantalisingly rooting for the contrary.  It is not correct that the Bar suppressed the case, because no Gambian can suppress a case in which the State is interested. They dropped it because that particular one won’t just stick in all directions. Paul failed to make me an issue then, and he is attempting here again.

On the issue of Baba Jobe’s asset, Mr. Jobe’s family are best to attest to that. My client authorised me under a Power of Attorney to nullify his Bank Guarantee of several millions in favour of Julakay Enterprises, at a time when Julakay was busy removing Baba’s name from business papers to dispossess him, knowing that Baba was powerless to act under custody. It was not to cash millions, but to legally revoke a documentary Bank Guarantee. There was evidence that such was happening in the confusion of Mr. Jobe’s prosecution, and if Julakay defaults in his obligations to the Bank, he Baba would end up being saddled with huge debts for which he did not benefit from. I registered this Power of Attorney with the State, filed it at the Attorney-General’s Chambers as a public document so that it is accessible to the whole world. Further, I notified the State of this to prevent wrong interpretation of my client’s intentions, and for transparency. Paul interpreted this to mean that I “transferred” my client’s assets in my name. If that were to be true, Mr. Jobe and his Family would have acted. On the contrary, I am still the personal Lawyer to Baba Jobe, and his Family.

On the issue of the Commission and his adverse findings, Paul claimed that there were no appeals against them. This ingrate is so economical with the truth. Your patrons knew that there wasn’t a chance for your baseless decisions to stand the test of proper legal scrutiny. They knew that one of the ways to get your wrong decisions survive as long as possible was to stop them at the Court of Appeal. Then they took you and your co-mercenary Agim to become judges of the Court of Appeal knowing fully well that both of you were incompetent to sit over your own cases. In other words, we appeal against your judgments to the Court of Appeal. They then took you to that same court that should have ruled on the very cases you had decided, and were being appealed. This was not legally possible, as it paralysed the entire appeal process in Gambian judiciary. Appellants were kept in prison without a chance of appeal, which helped your patrons to keep Gambians in prison, denying them the constitutional right of hearing their appeals by operation of law. This is one of your nasty contributions on the bench.

Further, Lawyers such as Antouman Gaye, Mariam Denton, Musa Bittaye, Bory Touray, Amie Joof-Conteh, and more filed appeals, applied to the Gambia Court of Appeal and obtained a stay execution of your decisions at the Asset Commission. Tell them, and the current Chief Justice, Justice Abdou Karim Savage too that this assertion of mine is a lie, and that you are correct that there was no such thing.  Government ordered the NIA to flout with the Order of the Court of Appeal on this. Tell the Bar that it was a lie that we (Gambian Lawyers) did not express our outrage at this illegality, and Mai Fatty was wrong. Tell Gambians that the Bar did not issue a Press Release in January 2006, (due to actions taken by you and your patrons), that “the Chief Justice has folded his arms in the new wave of government’s failure to respect court injunctions” – referring to the flouting of Court of Appeal ruling to stay execution of your very decisions, among others. Tell us that I invented this, and you are right. Further the Bar stated that “through out the whole history of The Gambian Judiciary, the Bar has never witnessed such a dangerous tendency towards a serious breakdown in the administration of justice at all levels.” I want you to deny that this did not appear in the media as a Bar Press Release as well, because this is the illegal fruit of your labour.

Regarding you insulting Gambian Muslims and denouncing the Islamic way of life, Mr. Nuha Kassama, the then Deputy Permanent Secretary of PMO, who doubled as Commission Secretary issued a clarification in The Gambian Press, amounting to a half-hearted apology on your behalf. Your comments provoked outrage from Muslim leaders, although at all material times, there was no religious issue before you as a Judge. Do you want to accuse the press of lying against you, and the Deputy Permanent Secretary of colluding with them to attribute falsehood to you? Come on Paul, be a man for once in your life! You are a religious bigot! Its no secret that you run a tiny mysterious synagogue in Lamin, claiming that you are Jewish. You gave yourself a Jewish name Benyamin, claiming to be worshiping the god of your behind. You are a pathetic confused bundle Paul!

In your first article, you indicated that you made all efforts to see President Jammeh to no avail. You are bitter that while you stuck to your end of the bargain as a mercenary judge, you were not adequately compensated. Wake up bloke, you outlived your usefulness! You of all people should know that Judges direct concerns relating to their functions to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), presided over by the Chief Justice. That is the correct statutory body to deal with your complaints, but of course I forgot that you were too big for that body. You just had to reach the President, perhaps to remind him of the dirty jobs you did, and how you were thrown down to the ghetto. Well, too bad.

The High Court Registry would prove me right that Paul went away to the Commission for one year locking up almost three hundred case files of accused persons languishing in prison including some of my clients. You struck out over two hundred cases because their lawyers refused to appear before you, including some of the cases in which I was Counsel. When will you wake up Paul? Stop dreaming and be a man! Own up and repent guy!

I would tarry here, and allow you to respond again. You can hide behind pseudo-names all of which would be traced to you, pretending to defend the indefensible.      

Editors note: Views expressed here do not reflect the position of the Freedom Newspaper. The Freedom Newspaper shall assert its neutrality in this debate between Lawyer Fatty and Justice Paul. Our readers are free to make informed decisions based on what they read here at Freedom.  Thanks for your attention.