THE Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has initiated investigations into bribery allegations against 34 judges and magistrates.
More than 100 members of staff of the Judicial Service will also be investigated in due course.
The CID has since received the full list of the implicated persons after writing to the Judicial Secretary.
According to the Director-General of the CID, Mr Prosper Agblor, attached to the list were details of how the judges and magistrates could be reached.
They include 13 High Court judges and 21 circuit court judges and magistrates.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, Mr Agblor said: “They have responded to our invitation and two are expected to report themselves to us this week.”
Others would report themselves for interrogation from next week, he said.
He said his outfit had requested for a full list of all judges and members of staff of the Judicial Service but was yet to receive the list of the members of staff.
“Nonetheless,” he stated, “we are embarking on a full-scale investigation into the matter.”
Superior Court judges
The names submitted to the Police CID are: Justices John Ajet-Nasam, Paul Uuter Dery, Charles Quist, Kofi Essel-Mensah, Mustapha Habib Logoh, Ernest Obimpeh, Ayisi Addo, Francis K. Opoku, Kwame Ohene-Essel, Ivy Heward-Mills and Asmah Akwasi Asiedu.
The rest are Justices Yaw Ansu-Gyeabour and Mohammed Ahmed Mustapha, both retired.
Implicated policemen
He said the implicated policemen and others who were caught on video by the ace under cover investigator, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, taking bribes to subvert justice had since been dealt with.
He explained that all the affected policemen and prosecutors had been invited for questioning.
According to the CID boss, eight incriminated policemen had given their statements and were currently on police enquiry bail.
Seven suspended
Meanwhile, seven of the fingered justices of the High Court have been suspended by the President.
A statement signed by the Judicial Secretary, Mr Justice Alex Opoku-Acheampong, and issued in Accra last Friday said Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, acting as President, took the decision on the advice of the Judicial Council.
Judicial scandal
Anas’s private investigative company, Tiger Eye PI, conducted a two-year investigation which produced a 500-hour video depicting 34 judges and magistrates, more than 100 court clerks, seven policemen, five state attorneys and bail contractors engaging in bribery and extortion.
One court clerk was even caught in a sex act.
One of the High Court judges implicated in the video, Mr Justice Dery, is on the heels of any organisation that attempts to screen the video, while 14 circuit court judges have filed a suit seeking to stop disciplinary proceedings instituted by the Judicial Council to investigate the matter.
source: Graphic online
