CJ Probes Vikileaks, Atuguba, Others Invited

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Created on Friday, 22 November 2013 00:00

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CJ Probes Vikileaks, Atuguba, Others Invited

The Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Woods, has launched a high profile investigation into allegations that the Supreme Court Judges, who sat on the presidential election petition, were compromised in their judgement as alleged by the sacked Deputy Minister of Communications, Victoria Hamah, DAILY GUIDE can confirm.

The Chief Justice has instituted a nine-member committee, headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Dr. Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, to grill the nine-member Supreme Court Justices, who sat on the landmark election petition.

The election petition taken to court by the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and two others, challenged the legitimacy of the victory of President John Dramani Mahama in the December 2012 presidential election.

A source close to the Judicial Council at the Supreme Court building said a letter dated November 18, 2013 signed by the Judicial Secretary, Alex B. Poku-Acheampong, has been written to the complainant, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, NPP General Secretary, informing him about the action taken so far on his petition to the Chief Justice.

Mr. Owusu-Afriyie, popularly called Sir John, had earlier petitioned the CJ on the damning allegations captured on the infamous ‘VikiLeaks’ secret tape about the alleged influencing of the Supreme Court justices who sat on the election petition filed by Nana Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the NPP National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

In the clandestinely recorded tape, the sacked Deputy Minister, Victoria Lakshmi Hammah was heard telling a colleague that the judgement of the Supreme Court panel, headed by Justice William Atuguba, was allegedly influenced to deliver a favourable judgement in favour of President John Mahama.

She mentioned the Minister of Children, Gender and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, as the person who allegedly saw the justices.

“…I learnt even before the Supreme Court judgement, Nana Oye Lithur was with the Justices and all that. You don’t know the role she has played for us to win the court case…” the embattled former deputy Communications minister was heard saying on the tape.

Nana Oye has, however, denied any knowledge about influencing any judge.

Serious Matter

Apparently, the CJ has taken the matter seriously because normally such allegations are referred to the Complaints Unit of the Judicial Service. “However, due to the issues raised in the petition of Sir John, the Honourable Lady Chief Justice decided to refer it to the Judicial Council to deal with same,” the Judicial Secretary wrote in the letter, a copy of which is in the possession of DAILY GUIDE.

This paper gathered that a meeting was held last Thursday November 14, 2013, to discuss Sir John’s petition to the Chief Justice, Mrs Woods.

At the meeting, the Chief Justice was said to have proposed that the matter should be handled by the Appointments and Disciplinary Committee of the Judicial Council.

The CJ’s suggestion was unanimously accepted.

The Appointments and Disciplinary Committee of the Judicial Council is the body that probes allegations of judicial misconduct and possesses the authority to appoint or sack members of the Bench.

The chairman of the investigative committee was recalled from retirement to head the probe because the current Chairman of the Disciplinary and Appointments Committee, Justice Julius Ansah, was a member of the nine-member Supreme Court panel that adjudicated on the election petition.

Judicial Service sources disclosed to DAILY GUIDE that while Justice Date-Bah’s committee was being composed, the CJ simultaneously dispatched a letter to officially notify the nine justices about the impending investigations.

The eight-member committee was drawn from the 18-member Judicial Council.

They include Nana Dr. S.K.B Asante, the Chief of Asokore in the Ashanti Region and a legal luminary and an international arbitrator; The Attorney General, Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong or her representative; Frank Beecham, a legal practitioner and a former President of the Ghana Bar Association.

Others include Ms. Joyce N.N Oku, a member of the Council for Law Reporting, Mrs. Eileen Odartei-Laryea, the President’s Nominee on the Judicial Council and the Judicial Secretary, Justice Alex B. Poku-Acheampong.

Meanwhile, Nene A. O. Amegatcher, the President of Ghana Bar Association has also been ‘co-opted’ to serve on the committee.

Out of the 18-member judicial council, four are President Mahama’s nominees, but only one—Mrs. Odartei-Laryea, was selected to serve on the Date-Bah-led probe. The other representative, who may have an affinity to the President, is the Attorney General, who owes her appointment to President Mahama, a beneficiary of the controversial judgement of the eight-month long election petition.

VikiLeaks Connection

Before Victoria Hammah spilt the beans, the judgement of the Supreme Court had been held in high contention as the opposition NPP suspected foul play.

After over eight months of trial that exposed fundamental flaws in the elections, majority of the nine Supreme Court justices, who sat on the petition, curiously ruled that there was nothing wrong with the outcome of the election.

The curious ruling earned intense criticisms from a cross-section of the public, the legal community and the opposition political parties.

The NPP even constituted a high-profile committee headed by former Attorney General, Joseph Nii Ayikoi Otoo, to re-examine the content of the rulings of the nine-member panel that sat on the petition.

While the committee pored over the ruling, the secret recording, now tagged, ‘VikiLeaks’, dropped the bombshell that reinforced the suspicion that some of the judges may have been influenced in their judgement to favour President Mahama and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

By Raphael Ofori-Adeniran Source: Daily Guide/Ghana