Judicial bribery: 12 High Court judges to face impeachment

The Judicial Service has interdicted 22 judges implicated in a bribery scandal that has rocked the Judiciary.

More than 100 members of staff of the Judicial Service, including judges and magistrates, are being investigated, according to the service.

The Daily Graphic has gathered that resignation letters tendered in by some of the implicated justices of the High Court have been turned down.

Five of the justices are currently on admission at hospitals, with one suffering from a mild stroke. It has also emerged that some of them have sought the services of therapists to prevent them from committing suicide.

The judges were captured on video taking money from litigants in what promises to be the biggest scandal ever to hit Ghana’s Judiciary.

Video

A three-hour video detailing the forms the corruption took shows how 34 of the culprits, said to be judges at the High, the Circuit and the District courts, took bribes, including goats.

Some of them have also been linked to sex scandals and extortion in the edited video, emanating from a two-year investigation by ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

The High Court justices who have been named include Justices John Ajet-Nasam, Charles Quist, Justice Ernest Obimpeh, Kofi Essel Mensah (Human Rights Court), Paul Uuter Dery and Mustapha Habib Logoh.

Specific famous cases they have handled are: Justice Ajet-Nasam — the criminal aspect of the famous Woyome case; Justice Quist —  the Asamoah Boateng and the Tagor cases, and Justice Logoh — the recent Johnson Kombian and the famous Issa Mobila cases.

Snippets of information gathered by the Daily Graphic point to the fact that Justice Ajet-Nasam is among the culprits who tendered in their resignation letters upon learning about the findings but his letter has been rejected.

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice has granted immunity from prosecution and any civil action to Anas for his work.

The grant of immunity to Anas is per Section 19 of the Whistle-Blowers’ Act (Act 720), the Daily Graphic has also gathered.

It is sad

A highly placed source at the Attorney-General’s Department expressed concern over the turn of events. However, it was happy about the fact that the unfolding events would rid the Judiciary of corrupt staff.

It said the government spent so much of the taxpayers’ money on judges to prevent exactly the situation that had arisen.

The source commended the state attorneys who were mentioned in the video as being incorruptible.

At the time of going to press, a lady judge’s name had popped up among those to be impeached. She is Mrs Ivy Heward-Mills, a High Court judge.

Disciplinary committee

Earlier in a statement signed and issued by the Judicial Secretary, Mr Justice Alex B. Poku-Acheampong, after an emergency meeting of the Judicial Council yesterday, the council said a disciplinary committee of the council, chaired by a Justice of the Supreme Court, had been constituted to investigate the petition against the 22 judges and magistrates.

It said on September 7, 2015, the 22 circuit court judges and magistrates were served with letters stating the allegations against them and were asked to submit their responses by September 9, 2015.

“The Judicial Council further decided that upon receipt of their responses, the 22 individuals should be suspended until the final determination of the matter.

“On receipt of their responses, the 22 judges and magistrates have, accordingly, been suspended with effect from Thursday, September 10, 2015,” it said.

The statement added that the committee would commence the hearing of the petition in respect of the 22 judges and magistrates from September 10, this year.

Other collaborators

It added that the Judicial Council had also instituted the necessary investigative process to identify, for further disciplinary actions, other court officials who might have collaborated in “these alleged acts of grave misconduct”.

The council assured the public that the outcome of those processes would be made fully public and that no one would be spared appropriate sanction where culpability was established.

“The council fully reckons that the perception or actuality of corruption in the Judiciary undermines confidence in the institution and cannot be tolerated to continue in any shape or form, hence the need to act with utmost dispatch,” it added.

It said while the prevalence of corruption had always been brought to the attention of the Judicial Council in the past, “these revelations have deepened the fears and concerns of the council and emboldened its resolve and determination to fight and uproot the canker”.

“These past efforts have resulted in the dismissal of some judges and magistrates in recent years,” it said.