Akoto Ampaw: Leave me out of your “crazy, diabolical, judicial bribery scandal”
Lawyer Akoto Ampaw has warned embattled lawyer, Kwasi Afrifa, to leave him out of what he says is his diabolic judiciary bribery scandal.
Private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw, has sent a strong warning to embattled Ghanaian lawyer, Kwasi Afrifa, to leave him out of what he says his “diabolic judiciary bribery scandal“, alleging that the Chief Justice, Justice Anin Yeboah, demanded $5 million dollars to determine a case in favor of a particular party in a matter before the Supreme Court.
In a statement directed at all media houses and dated 19 July 2021, the astute lawyer with many years’ standing at the bar says his attention has been drawn to the social and political raucous occasioned by a petition by Ogyeedom Obranu Kwesi Atta VI of Gomoa Afransi to the General Legal Council complaining of the conduct of a certain Kwasi Afrifa, a lawyer who had acted for him in his case against the Lands Commission and Ghana Telecommunications Limited.
His statement further reads, “I had originally taken the view that the oblique insinuations in lawyer Afrifa’s response, which fortuitously became public almost immediately after he had written to the Council, were so infantile and preposterous that they did not deserve the dignity of a response from me. But Ghana being what it is, tomorrow, people might say, but Akoto Ampaw did not deny the allegations, so my reaction.”
Issue of bribery
By way of a background to the issue that has necessitated his reaction, Akoto Ampaw stated, “It is now well known Ogyeedom complained about the failure of Kwasi Afrifa to return the full sum of USD100,000 that he had paid to Afrifa, following Afrifa’s demand of his client, Ogyeedom, for same in order to get a favorable judgment (through ‘ways and means), in his case before the Supreme Court. According to Ogyeedom, lawyer Afrifa had, at the time of his petition, refunded only USD25,000.00 of the total sum of money he had given to Afrifa, leaving an outstanding sum of USD75,000.00, and that all efforts on his part to retrieve the balance had proven unsuccessful”.
“In his response dated 7th July 2021, lawyer Afrifa categorically denied asking for and receiving any USD 100,000.00 from Ogyeedom, and stated further that the only sum he had received was for his professional services as a lawyer and was the sum of GH$300,000.00, together with his travel and hotel accommodation and other incidental expenses he incurred whenever he traveled from Kumasi, where he resided, to Accra to prosecute his client’s case before the Supreme Court. Having categorically denied the complaint of his client, lawyer Afrifa then proceeded to craft the story, now the daily source of political gossip, presumably to explain how come he refunded the GH$300,000 to his client, not in cedis but in US dollars,” the statement further read.
Probing further, Mr Ampaw stated, “According to lawyer Afrifa, his client, Ogyeedom, had informed him that he (the client), had been taken to see the Chief Justice by a friend, and the Chief Justice, allegedly promised to procure a favorable outcome in Ogyeedom’s case before the Supreme Court, provided that he, Ogyeedom, agreed to pay him the whopping sum of Five Million US Dollars (USD5,000,000.00) and further to replace him, lawyer Afrifa, by me, Akoto Ampaw”.
“Lawyer Afrifa must have his own diabolical reasons for trying to implicate me in this crazy judicial bribery scandal, which manifestly does not add up,” lawyer Akoto Ampaw said.
Dealings with Chief Justice
On the specific allegation of some arrangement between him, Akoto Ampaw and the Chief Justice, Mr. Ampaw noted, “For the record, I wish to state, without any equivocation, that the only dealings I have had with the Chief Justice in this matter have been in open court as the lawyer for Ogyeedom. Beyond that, I have had no dealings whatsoever with the Chief Justice in this matter”.
“Furthermore, even though, of course, I have known the Chief Justice since his law student days in the ’70s, once he became a judge, I have kept my respectful and studious distance from him, as I have from other justices of the Supreme Court, past and present, even if they may have been my friends in school. I have adopted this attitude in order to avoid the slightest insinuation that I may be using my personal relationship with judges to subvert the course of justice,” Mr Ampaw’s statement read.
Reserved Rights
He ended his statement by indicating, “I will not permit anyone to sully my name on the altar of politics or personal convenience. I take this opportunity to serve notice to any political group or commentator and also media practitioners that I would not have anyone drag my good name and reputation down the slimy mud of corruption in order to curry political favor or boost audiences”.
“In particular, I wish to have it on record that I reserve all my legal rights and options occasioned by lawyer Afrifa’s scandalous and defamatory publication of, and concerning me,” Mr Ampaw’s statement read.
Source: Asaaseradio.com
