Anas’ clandestine ways may be unconstitutional - Lawyer

It is all joy when persons considered to know better are caught and punished for not practicing what they preach.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas, a private investigator, made bold headlines after coming out with a two-year investigative findings that involves a total of 180 officials of the Judicial Service ostensibly taking bribes and extorting money from litigants.

But a lawyer by name Nana Asamoah Asare has kicked against the “clandestine” tactics deployed by the ace investigator and has warned the public not to rejoice over the exposé yet.

The image of the Judicial Service, an independent arm of State created to resolve legal conflicts according to law, impartially and efficiently to all persons without fear or favour, affection or ill-will, would forever be tarnished in the eyes of the public if the findings Anas brought out are certified by the court to be true.

In an interview on Peace FM’s Evening News, Lawyer Asare explained that inasmuch as Anas Aremeyaw Anas is doing his best to fight corruption, he must be reminded of conducting his investigations in a legitimate way.

He added that Anas doesn’t deserve to be praised if he has not been commissioned; "no one deserves to be praised if he deliberately traps and get a victim fall to his plans if that person has not been commissioned by law to do so".

Speaking on Anas’ latest exposé, Nana Asamoah Asare stated that: “imagine someone sits in his office and an investigator walks in and clandestinely fix a camera in his office and comes out to accuse the person he visited of taking bribe.

The investigator didn’t let the world know what happened before the bribery took place. He just invaded the privacy of the other person and turns around and accuses him of doing evil”.

As a lawyer, he maintains our constitution guarantees our right to privacy and aside this, he urges all to be minded that the act of gift giving is a norm in Ghana.

“We must know who gave the bribe and what that fellow requested; we must know whether the law allows people to fix cameras in people’s office,” he observed.

Lawyer Nana Asamoah Asare made it clear he was against private individuals going undercover without the backing of the law just to trap others.

“This is a case where a private individual disguise himself; comes to talk to you and you have no idea what he is about. We must see to it if the evidence he has can stand the test of time in court. We must look at this before we start judging,” he said.