Dery files contempt charges against Conference Centre, UTV - But hundreds watch Anas video on day two

One of the High Court judges seen in Anas’s video allegedly taking bribe, Mr Justice Paul Uuter Dery, has filed contempt charges against the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) and United Television (UTV).

Mr Justice Dery wants the Manager of the AICC, Mr Kofi Appiah, and the Station Manager of UTV committed to prison for contempt of court for overlooking an impending interlocutory application seeking to restrain the AICC from screening a video showing him allegedly taking bribe.

Mr Justice Dery, through his lawyer, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, last Tuesday filed an application for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the AICC and other directors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from permitting the use of the AICC for the screening of the video dubbed: “Ghana in the Eyes of God – Epic of Injustice”.
According to the applicant, the defendants were aware he had filed a suit prohibiting Tiger Eye PI from prejudicing his case by going ahead to screen the alleged audio-visual recordings.

Affidavit in Support

In an affidavit in support of his motion, Mr Justice Dery averred that although the AICC had been served with a writ of summons dated September 16, 2015 which sought to prohibit it from making its facility available to Tiger Eye PI and its media partner, the AICC went ahead, “disregarding, undermining and prejudicing the authority of the court”.
For UTV, Mr Justice Dery claimed that around 10 p.m. on September 22, 2015, the station aired contents of the audio-visual recording.
Those actions of the respondents, according to Mr Justice Dery, were calculated to bring the authority and administration of the law into “disrespect and disregard and interfere with the course of justice”.

He argued that the respondents had knowledge of the pendency of his actions before the court and, therefore, the public screening of the alleged audio-visual recording on September 22, 2015 sought to prejudice the fair trial of the case and that singular act amounted to contempt of court.
The conduct of the respondents, he argued, was in “bad faith, malicious and prejudicial to the determination of the case before the court" and under the circumstances he was praying that the obvious disregard of the court amounted to nothing more than contempt of court, for which the respondents ought to be convicted and punished.

Patronage

Meanwhile, in spite of the contempt charges filed by Justice Dery against the AICC and UTV, hundreds of curious people yesterday flocked to the AICC to view the much-touted video of bribery exposé implicating some High Court and Circuit Court judges, as well as court clerks and others.
However, unlike last Tuesday, the attendance and excitement that characterised the airing of the footage yesterday were on the downside.
The film started exactly at 4.42 p.m. after the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante, had addressed the gathering about the import of the Anas Aremeyaw Anas video.

From the onset of the airing of the scandalous footage, a number of the seats inside the hall were vacant, but an hour later into the video, both the seats at the main auditorium and the upper terrace were filled to capacity.
Just like that of last Tuesday, the film was billed to be shown in two sesssions to enable more members of the public to feel the import of increased corruption within the Judicial Service of Ghana.

Flowing queues

Contrary to the slow movement of heavy queues that formed on the first day of the airing of the video, the organisers of the premiere ensured that there were two long queues at the AICC yesterday, that facilitated entry into the hall.
As early as 3.30 p.m. workers, the clergy, members of the Diplomatic Corps gradually flooded the centre.
To ensure maximum security, private security personnel searched the patrons, while policemen and women patrolled the premises of the facility to ensure law and order.

Writers’ email: mabel.baneseh@graphic.com.gh
nana. agyeman@graphic.com.gh