7 Judges fired over Anas bribe

• Posted on October 6, 2015October 6, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Seven out of the 12 high court judges implicated in the smelliest scandal to hit the judiciary yet have been sent packing.

Two others appear to have been given a temporary reprieve as they explore the judicial processes with the hope of overturning the tide of corruption against them.

The seven judges have been slapped with a suspension order by Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur in his capacity as acting President of the Republic of Ghana on grounds of stated misbehaviour.

President John Mahama is outside the country on official assignment and the vice president, acting on the advice of the Judicial Service, let the axe to fall on the affected judges who were allegedly caught on tape taking bribes.

The action was contained in a statement issued by the Judicial Service and signed by Justice Alex B. Poku-Acheampong, Judicial Secretary, dated October 5, 2015.

The statement posited, “On the advice of the Judicial Council, the Vice President, Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, acting in his capacity as President of the Republic of Ghana on Friday, October 2, 2015, suspended from office with immediate effect seven (7) out of the 12 Justices of the High Court on grounds of stated misbehaviour. Their suspension is pursuant to Article 146 (10)(b) of the 1992 Constitution.”

The affected judges are Justices Francis K. Opoku, Kofi Essel Mensah, John Ajet-Nasam, Ernest Obimpeh, Kwame Ohene Essel, Ivy Heward-Mills and Gilbert Ayisi Addo.

Their suspension, according to the release, follows the establishment of a prima facie case of stated misbehaviour against them by the Chief Justice as laid out in Article 146 (3) of the 1992 Constitution and the setting up of a committee under Article 146 (4) to investigate the petition presented against them by a private investigative group, Tiger Eye PI.

It would be recalled that Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an investigative journalist and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tiger Eye PI, presented a petition to the President and Chief Justice Theodora Georgina Wood about the bribe-taking activities of a number of judges – evidences which were captured in video recordings.

The screening of the hair-raising video took place recently at the International Conference Centre in Accra and other cinema houses after fruitless legal efforts to stop it.

The Committee which was empanelled to tackle the case consists of three justices of the Superior Court – that is a justice of the Supreme Court who is chairperson, and two justices of the Court of Appeal appointed by the Judicial Council and two other persons appointed on the advice of the Council of State, who are neither members of the Council of State nor Members of Parliament nor lawyers.

According to the release, the Attorney General had been requested to provide a state attorney to assist the Committee in its work whilst a deputy director at the Judicial Service will serve as the Secretary to the Committee.

The Chief Justice, the release went on, “has decided to suspend the determination of a prima facie case in respect of Justice Mustapha Logoh and Justice Paul Uuter Dery, who were cited in the petition, as a result of the actions instituted by them against her and Tiger Eye PI, which are pending in court.”

The case of Justice Charles Quist has also been put at the back burner owing to ill health. “The proceedings against Justice Charles Quist have been deferred on grounds of ill health following a medical report submitted by his physician on the grounds of his state of health,” it added.

Tiger Eye PI, according to the release, had written to the chief justice informing her that the inclusion of Justice Daniel Obeng –  a justice of the high court – in the petition for the removal from office was an error.

The investigating group pointed out that further investigations indicate that the judge they dealt with was rather Emmanuel Opare, a circuit court judge.

The Judicial Service has indicated that its records show that at the time of the investigations by Tiger Eye PI in August 2015, Justice Daniel Obeng had been elevated to the high court and transferred to the Northern Region.

A total of 34 judges are being investigated following the three-hour documentary revealing how they took bribes to throw away cases before them.

They also include two retired judges and 22 lower court judges comprising circuit court judges and magistrates who have all been suspended. 

Lower Courts

The names of some of the suspended lower court judges are Florence K. Ninepence Otoo, Alex Obeng Asante, Emmanuel K. Sunu, Benjamin Y. Osei, Baptist Kodwo Filson, Issac Akwetey, Albert Zoogah, Courage Ofori Afriyie and Seyram T.Y. Azumah, all of the circuit court.

The magistrates are William Baffoe, Michael Boamah Gyamfi, Paul K. Alhassan, Stephen Asuure, Kaakyire Atta Owusu, Alfred K.A Mensah, Frank Kingsley Oppong, Samuel Ahaibor, Isaac K. Amoah and Jacob Amponsah.

The action against the affected judges is the most strident yet since the story hit the public domain.

The coming days are fraught with many twists and turns in this high-notched case which has attracted not only the attention of Ghanaians by virtue of its rarity, but others in the legal fraternity outside the country’s borders.

By A.R. Gomda