You are here: HomeNews2010 08 20Article 188685

General News of Friday, 20 August 2010

Source: The Enquirer

CJ & Atta Akyea's Hand Of Conspiracy

The hands of Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood (CJ) and her brother-in-law, Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea, appear to be ‘a working hand of conspiracy’ within the Judicial Service, with the CJ sometimes coaching his in-law about how to go about his cases.

A secret recording involving lawyer Atta Akyea, who is married to the CJ’s sister, reveals that during the December 2008 elections, when Atta Akyea filed an Ex-Parte motion to stop the Electoral Commissioner (EC) from declaring the results, the CJ after convening the court on New Year’s Day, a national holiday, coached the ace criminal lawyer about how to go about the case.

The recording reveals that when the case was allocated to one Justice Asante, the NPP, who feared the judge was pro-NDC apparently approached the CJ, who coached him on how to get the docket snatched from the said judge, with claims that he once worked with CASHPRO, a company that dealt in cocoa and which had NDC stalwarts, including Ato Ahwoi, as owners.

The secret audio captured Hon. Atta Akyea saying that in the room where he filed the case, “When I was going, they said the CJ said I should raise the issue of bias, (against the judge). All that she (CJ) would have told the young man (the judge) is that they say you have worked with CASHPRO and CASHPRO is NDC and I don’t want you to be embarrassed.”
Mr. Atta Akyea, Member of Parliament (MP) of Abuakwa South, continued in the secret recording that “when I was about to go to court, they said that my wife wants to talk to me, and she said they say I should move the motion, it’ll be alright.”
Mr. Atta Akyea is married to a sister of the CJ.
Other pro -NPP lawyers who were captured by the secret recording were also heard saying that “(Justice) Asante has no Charisma; if it was Ofori Atta, he would have granted the Ex-Parte. We put the ex-parte before a wrong judge, we thought he was actually for us; listening to the decision and ruling, he is not” with us.
“You may be surprised that he may have hinted those people,” referring to Tony Lithur, Fui Tsikata, Bram Larbi and Samuel Cudjoe (a.k.a. Tom Sawyer) among other lawyers, who had rushed to court as ‘Friends of the Court’, to scatter the diabolic plan to halt the Tain election, which would obviously have led to a constitutional crisis during the 2008 elections.
LET’S PROBE –JUSTICE KPEGAH
Justice Francis Yao Kpegah, who resigned from the Supreme Court after he cited undue influence on the bench by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, says the Chief Justice needs to be investigated for unduly influencing the judiciary.
Kpegah said, having acted once as the Chief Justice, he knew what he was talking about.
Again, he told The Enquirer that the attempt by the NPP to put an injunction on the Electoral Commission (EC) to stall the declaration of the winner of the 2008 Presidential election is a case that clearly indicts the position of the Chief Justice.
“Mrs. Wood, as the Chief Justice allowed a court to sit on a holiday for an Ex-parte motion matter to be heard,” adding that, that case alone by the Chief Justice should have informed her that all was not well for her to be in that position.
“She knew what she had done at the time and watched unconcerned for the NPP to have its way, but was prevented because of the vigilance of the NDC,” he added.
Justice Kpegah, who sounded worried on the phone concerning recent developments, said that the allocation of public land to the Chief Justice by the NPP administration is another thing that should be used against her.
“It is abundantly clear that she was performing a specific role for the government and that is why she was rewarded with the land,” he added.
According to the ex-Supreme Court Judge, Mrs. Wood ought to have known at the time that the land which was offered to her at a prime location was for the state and not the NPP government.
Justice Kpegah told The Enquirer that he knew of numerous nocturnal meetings held by the Chief Justice and other known judges with ties to the NPP.
Touching on the press conference held by the NDC, he said it was not only untimely, but ill-informed.
He told The Enquirer that it was simply unnecessary for the NDC to go out in the manner that it did.
The NDC at a press conference last Tuesday expressed its dissatisfaction against the Judiciary, claiming that it was becoming politicized and biased in dispensing justice.