Osei-Ameyaw Floors Bar Association

Kofi Osei-AmeyawEX-Deputy Minister for Tourism, Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, has won a legal suit in which the New South Wales (NSW) Bar Association in Australia had dragged him to court for an alleged unsatisfactory professional misconduct and also for allegedly providing two misleading and false responses to the Association.

The court, in its final ruling, has dismissed both counts, acquitted Osei-Ameyaw of any illegal conduct and further ordered that Kofi Osei-Ameyaw should make any application he may wish to make in relation to the costs of these proceedings within a short but reasonable time.

Solicitors for the ex-Deputy Minister have accordingly applied for a cost of $US250, 000 against the NSW Bar Association and are awaiting the money.

This ruling which was granted on November 19, 2008 effectively cancels an earlier ruling which found Osei-Ameyaw guilty of the charges.

“On the evidence before us and in the light of the submissions made and the way in which the hearing was conducted, we have reached different conclusions from the conclusions reached by the Tribunal on the previous occasion,” the New South Wales Tribunal ruled.

The NSW Bar Association had taken Osei-Ameyaw, a member of the Association, before the New South Wales Administrative Tribunal alleging that Osei-Ameyaw, acting in his capacity as a Barrister, had presented two misleading and false responses to the Bar Association when handling a client and by so doing was guilty of professional misconduct.

According to the Bar Association, Osei-Ameyaw provided a misleading and false response to the Bar Council by stating in a letter that he did not take part in the preparation of submissions by Caprock Immigration Consultants to the Minister for Immigration when in fact he participated in the preparation of a statutory declaration of Ms Jocelyn Bautista in support of the said submissions.

The Association had also accused Mr. Osei-Ameyaw of being guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct by failing to advance and protect the interests of his clients, one Mr. Alberto Bautista and Mrs. Jocelyn Bautista, when he appeared with them and on their behalf in the Refugee Review Tribunal.

The Tribunal, in its ruling, concluded that both allegations should be dismissed because after examining all the evidence before it, it cannot be accepted that Osei-Ameyaw had acted in an unsatisfactory manner or presented any false information to the Bar Association.