General News of Tuesday, 9 February 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Muntaka's bribery allegation: Maurice Ampaw ‘mad’ at Dominic Ayine

Maurice Ampaw is a private legal practitioner Maurice Ampaw is a private legal practitioner

Maurice Ampaw, a private legal practitioner says he is appalled by Dr Dominic Ayine’s counsel to Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak to apologise for his bribery allegations against one of the seventeen Supreme Court justices.

As first reported by this site, Muntaka Mubarak has retracted and apologized to the Judiciary for the comment he made which attacks the integrity of the arm of government.

In his apology, Muntaka failed to admit guilt but said his action is in the interest of the country’s democracy.

Muntaka in his statement said: “I have reflected deeply and consulted broadly on the aftermath and disclosure I made during an interview on Joy News TV on 10th January 2021.”

“The disclosure was made based on a report from a trusted colleague which was that she had been approached by a Justice of the Supreme Court Judge seeking to entice her to vote for a particular candidate during the contest for the Speakership of Parliament”.

Dr Dominic Ayine in commenting on the apology revealed he was one of the persons who talked Muntaka into expressing regrets.

“Our democracy is still fragile, we need to as much as possible ensure it grows very well, sometimes, when these issues happen, you have institutions locking horns or personalities in institutions locking horns,” Dr Ayine, former deputy Attorney-General postulated.

Maurice Ampaw in an interview with Neat FM said that he is saddened by the statement from Dr. Ayine.

He bemoaned that a potential criminal case involving two arms of government is going to be swept under the carpet because of the apology.

“I watched Dr Ayine say that the statement Muntaka made is true but he advised him to retract in the interest of democracy. Can you imagine? A whole lawyer telling an MP that if he has criminal evidence, he should keep it and not exposed it. I’m mad and saddened at Dr Ayine. The fight against crime is the interest of the state so if I were the CID I would have invited the leadership of the NDC.

He also appealed to the Chief Justice to rejected the apology and continue with the investigations into the allegation.

“You have evidence that someone committed a crime and you are hiding it. I’m calling on the Chief Justice and the judiciary not to accept the apology. They should attach the apology to the evidence and send it to the CID for investigation. They should add Dr. Ayine too because he looks like a good informant. If not for, Ghanaians will never trust the judiciary. They will also be accused of being corrupt” he said.