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Drunk Judge In trouble

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 Source: Dailypost

-As A-G files motion to oust him from Ya-Na’s murder trial

By Livingstone Pay Charlie,

The High Court judge sitting on the Ya Na murder trial and who the

Attorney-General wants replaced, Justice Anthony Oppong, is in trouble for

allegedly making prejudicial comments after gulping down bottles of beer at a

bar.

The judge, who was transferred from Sekondi to Accra, was said to have told two

of his friends at the Air Force Officers Mess in Takoradi that he would “throw

out” the prosecution’s case if he was given the chance to sit on the Ya-Na’s

murder case.

The Attorney-General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has taken strong exceptions to the

alleged effusion of Justice Anthony Oppong and is the reason why, according to

our intel sources, she wants him replaced.

She filed a motion yesterday seeking the judge to be replaced in the Ya-Na

murder trial.

When the case was called before Justice Anthony Oppong early this week, the

prosecution protested against his sitting on the case, saying he will not be

fair.

Usually reliable sources told this paper a man and a woman (names withheld for

now), who were with the judge at the beer bar have made their statements to the

Attorney-General’s office.

A tape recording which according to sources, confirmed the alleged prejudicial

comments of the judge, has been made available to the Attorney-General.

Justice Oppong is said to be one of the pro-NPP judges who has decided to join

the agenda of judicial terrorism against the NDC government.

According to records, he was implicated in an Auditor- General’s report which

exposed illegal payments that the police has been making to some judges after

fines were paid by drivers and defaulters to the courts.

During the NPP regime, he underwent training in order to sit at the Automated

Commercial Court to sit on cases involving commercial drivers who had flouted

road traffic regulations.

The audit report also implicated the then Justice Williewise Kyeremeh, who

subsequently resigned from the judiciary and consigned himself to private

practice in Sunyani.

It is not immediately clear what happened during the NPP regime for the case of

Justice Oppong to be pushed under the carpet.

Currently, the ruling NDC is attributing the loss of court cases by the

Attorney-General’s department to pro-NPP judges who have refused to listen to

sound and cogent legal reasoning to judge cases.

Source: Dailypost