Bribery Allegations: NDC dares Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah to step aside for Investigations

In view of the bribery allegations leveled against him, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is demanding of the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah, to step aside to enable CHRAJ to carry out its investigations into the matter.

At a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah said the Chief Justice must not be seen to be interfering with investigations of such a sensitive matter, hence he must respectfully step aside until such time that the investigations would be declared done.

He said CHRAJ has an enviable reputation of looking into similar cases of alleged corruption against highly placed government officials as so it is better placed to conduct investigations into such a serious national issue.

“Best practice would require that the Chief Justice steps aside temporarily until the matters are looked into and a clear outcome emerges and we believe this instance calls for such an action,” Asiedu Nketia stated.

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“Friends from the media, in making these calls, we are guided by the supreme interest of governance and the preservation of the image of critical state institutions like the Judiciary and its leaders especially the Chief Justice. No iota of doubt must remain about its integrity and credibility and it is absolutely imperative that everything is done to guarantee this”.

The Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, His Lordship Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, has been in the news recently following a bribery allegation leveled against him by a prominent Lawyer, Akwasi Afrifa Esq., to the effect that his client, Nana Ogyeedom Obranu Kwesi Atta VI, who’s case he was handling had informed him that the Chief Justice demanded a bribe of USD$5 million to fix the verdict of a case before the Supreme Court. He also alleged that the Chief Justice demanded the replacement of he Akwasi Afrifa with Akoto Ampaw Esq. who a friend and personal lawyer of President Akufo-Addo.

These allegations according to the NDC General Secretary have a component of criminality and that it is in equal measure about alleged misconduct on the part of a judge, as such, it would ordinarily fall within the ambit of the Judicial Service to take steps to unravel the truth about this matter for disciplinary actions if proven to be true.

“This is exactly what was done in the bribery expose’ of ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas against some Judges few years ago,” Nketiah added.

The NDC chief scribe also kicked against the directive to the Criminals Investigations Department (CID) to investigate the allegations and the referral of the matter to the General Legal Council (GLC) by the Chief Justice, citing conflict of interest and Compromise on the part of the Police.

“We are of the considered view that the recent history of the Police CID with respect to investigations into allegations against high-ranking officials of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government would not afford the sort of confidence that must be engendered in an investigation such as this considering the elevated position of the person against whom these allegations have been made”, he noted.

“…We recall how corruption cases like the Australia Visa fraud scandal, the Galamsey fraud scandal, the 500 missing excavators scandal, just to mention a few ended in clear cover-ups when handled by the Police CID. The magnitude and gravity of this matter calls for utmost transparency and confidence building which the CID cannot muster at the moment”.

Asiedu Nketiah said the NDC is monitoring the events.