Some Practising Lawyers are overly disturbed about what constitutes a ‘gift’ and ‘bribe’ following the judicial corruption expose’ by ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
As a result, the lawyers are appealing to the General Legal Council of the Judicial Service to come out with clear guidelines regarding gifts and bribe.
According to them, Christmas is fast approaching and as has been the norm over the years, they intend to send gifts to some judges who were their classmates to deepen their friendship, but they are skeptical because the action may be misconstrued as bribe giving.
Speaking to the DAILY HERITAGE in an interview, one of the lawyers, Mr. George Asameney lamented that, “It is a very difficult situation we find ourselves in now, generally, and we believe that its time the authorities come out clearly to define what is a bribe and what is a gift, especially, during this Christmas season where everyone wants to show appreciation.
“What is the position of the General Legal Council? We will be very grateful if the Judicial Council can come out with some guidelines on that because you cannot say because of this Anas video, any gift you give to somebody will influence the person,” he bemoaned.
“There are judges who were mates, some of them we go, sit and chat with them, so when you give a gift genuinely, will that constitute a bribe? What is the position of the General Legal Council?” He asked rhetorically.
Relationship with judges
He added that, “it is important that we distinguish between the two (gifts that will constitute a bribe and gifts for the Christmas season).
“It is very worrying, you see it’s not only the gift, but our relationship with the judges who were our classmates, and judges who have been so nice to us have changed because you don’t know who is watching or how somebody might take it. It is a very difficult situation for us and those at the bar and the bench.”
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(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)