Kumasi Judge In Big Trouble

The Chief Justice, Her Lordship Justice Georgina T. Wood has ordered investigations into an alleged bribery scandal at the Juaben Circuit Court, presided over by Mr. Alex Asante Obeng.

The directive in is in response to a concern raised by Nana Kwasi Kwarteng, Spokesman for Operation Save the Suffering Masses (OSSM), in an open letter to the Chief Justice recently, which was published in The Herald recently.

Nana Kwarteng has been asked by the Director of Public Complaints of the Judicial Service to furnish the Judicial Service with vital information to enable the Complaints Unit initiate a full-scale investigations into the complaints.

The petitioner has confirmed moves by the CJ to investigate the issue to The Herald enquiries.

Nana Kwarteng had, in the said Open letter published on August 28, this year revealed how criminals broke into a room in his house where a Chinese Electrical Company had kept a consignment of electric meters and cables meant for rural electrification, and stole 240 metres of the cables.

The case was reported to the Mamponteng Police upon which some suspects who happened to be the workers of the said Chinese company were arrested.

The suspects, including the caretaker of the room in which the meters were kept, later confessed their complicity in the theft upon which they were charged and arraigned before court.

Surprisingly, the Juaben Circuit Court presided over by Mr. Alex Asante Obeng invited the suspects and the complainants into a closed door meeting in his chamber and asked each of the suspects to pay GH¢300.00 to the court, after which they were set free.

According to Nana Kwarteng, he as the landlord of the house in which the burglary took place was not allowed to testify and that when he (Kwarteng) tried to get a certified copy of the proceedings and judgment, Justice Asante Obeng, again directed the complainant to pay GH¢60.00 to a clerk.

As a result, part payment of GH¢40.00 was made but upon advise the court clerk refunded the said GH¢40.00 to the Chinese complainant in the case. With this development, the Chinese was asked to come for the record of proceedings and judgment in two weeks time.

Nana Kwarteng brought the development to the attention of the Chief Justice in an open letter following which the Chief Justice directed the Judicial Service to contact him (Nana Kwarteng) to furnish it with a detailed information regarding the theft, police arrest and court proceedings and outcome of the trial as well as the role of the presiding Judge, Mr. Alex Asante Obeng, and the court clerk in the alleged bribery scandal at the Juaben Circuit Court.