By Sedi Bansah

Mr. Chris Ackumey, an Accra-based lawyer, whose evidence to the Chief Justice (CJ), Theodora Wood, is to help in proving the existence of corruption in the judiciary, has expressed misgivings about how the evidence was treated, and subsequently leaked to the media.

Speaking to The Herald, Mr. Ackumey wondered why his evidence was treated in a manner that was very unprofessional if there was a genuine decision to get to the bottom of the issue that corruption was rife in the judiciary, and for that matter, steps must be taken to rid it (Judiciary) of this canker (corruption).

According to him, he provided the CJ with the name of the High Court Judge who allegedly took the bribe; he provided the name of the registrar to whom the money was given to be given to the judge.

He said he also provided the names of the three people in whose presence he gave the money to the registrar to be given the judge. Of the three people, one was privy to the delivery of the bribe to the judge.

In addition to all these, he provided details of the case and its number and the dates on which it was heard as well as the date on which the money was handed over to the judge.

Ackumey noted that if the judge in question became deceased, he (Counsel) had given names of all the people involved in the bribery saga, and that they could have been invited to testify as true or otherwise deny the accusation.

But to dismiss the evidence as non-essential or unsubstantiated solely on the basis of the demise of the judge without talking to other players in the saga is an “effrontery to commonsense” so far as investigating the matter was concerned, he noted.

He underscored that the judge was not being tried in the circumstance, but the effort was to arrive at the evidence of any process that led to money changing hands and finally ending up in the judge’s hands.

He also saw the deadline of May 31, 2011, for the submission of his evidence to investigate the existence of corruption in the judiciary, as not good and helpful in this all-important exercise to rid the judiciary of corruption.

“I was not even contacted to provide the phone numbers of the people I have mentioned for them to be called and questioned before me or otherwise,” Mr. Ackumey revealed.

He said the CJ was unfair to him for leaking the story to the media without fully investigating his evidence.

According to him, since he was not responsible for the death of the judge, and it was not the bribery matter that killed the judge, he was ready to give more evidence on the existence of corruption in the judiciary.

He said by drawing a conclusion on his evidence without investigating it and leaking it to the press for it to be put on the internet, he had received a lot of calls from all over the world, from businessmen, and other people who have been victims of corruption in the Ghanaian judiciary.

“These people are all ready to provide testimonies of their experiences with the Ghanaian judiciary as rife with corruption”, said Mr. Ackumey.

Mr. Ackumey volunteered to provide evidence that the judiciary was corrupt in the wake of the Judges and Magistrates Association dragging four lawyers-Dr. Raymond Atuguba, Dr. Amaliba and Messrs Larry Bimi and David Annan-before the Judicial Council to prove their assertion that the Judiciary is corrupt.

He concluded that the evidence he has presented to the Judicial Council on the corruption in the judiciary is very conclusive to be ignored. The issue at stake is not the death of a judge but an act of corruption.