Madness, greed motivated #12 – Lawyer

The decision by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, to bribe a referee who officiated a match between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak, as part of his investigations into bribery and corruption in Ghana football, was a bad one, Atoampomah Koduah, a private legal practitioner and founding president of the Centre for Intellectual Property Advocacy Ghana, has said.

According to him, Anas should have been guided by the May 9 stadium disaster that killed scores of supporters of Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, in electing to do what he did.

In Mr Kodua’s view, Anas should not have chosen a game between the two rival clubs for his investigative piece knowing the violent history of their fans.

In his Number 12 documentary, Anas hired an imposter to bribe referee Samuel Suka in order to help Accra Hearts of Oak win a particular game against Asante Kotoko. The referee, who was captured on the tape receiving the bribe, accordingly helped Hearts to win the encounter by awarding a questionable penalty to the side.

After watching the documentary, the management of Hearts of Oak condemned the investigative journalist for his action. Although they support any effort to root out corruption in football, they kicked against the method used by Anas.

Commenting on this development on His Facebook page, Mr Kodua wrote: “With all the history from #May9, you set out to set up a bribe for a Hearts-Kotoko match...#NationWreckers or #NationBuilders?”

He said: “In the past, #12 would have suffered a boycott by Asante and #AsanteKotoko for the madness and greed that motivated Tiger Eye PI, their associates & Referee Suker to plot a potential bloodbath through bribe #StillAngry #May9Memories.”

Mr Kodua added: “I do not condone wrongdoing and won’t accept that from a friend...but also, I will not accept convictions pronounced in the court of public opinion. I think KN has two options...to accept what has been shown or fight it...that is entirely his cup of tea...my beef really is about the plot to cause mayhem.”