Private legal practitioner Akoto Ampaw has sent a strong warning to the embattled Ghanaian lawyer Kwasi Afrifa to leave him out of what he describes as Afrifa’s “diabolic judiciary bribery scandal”, in which Afrifa has alleged that the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, demanded US$5 million to determine a case in favour of a particular party in a matter that was before the Supreme Court.
In a statement directed to all media houses and dated 19 July 2021, the astute lawyer of many years’ standing at the Bar says his attention has been drawn to the social and political uproar occasioned by a petition by Ogyeedom Obranu Kwesi Atta VI of Gomoa Afransi to the General Legal Council.
The petition complains of the conduct of a certain Kwasi Afrifa, a lawyer who acted for Ogyeedom Obranu Kwesi Atta in a case against the Lands Commission and Ghana Telecommunications Ltd.
Akoto Ampaw‘s 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.”
Accusation of bribery
By way of background to the matter that had made necessary his reaction, Akoto Ampaw said: “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 favourable 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 USD100,000.00 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 GHS300,000.00, together with his travel and hotel accommodation and other incidental expenses he incurred whenever he travelled 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 GHS300,000 to his client, not in cedis but in US dollars,” the statement further read.
Probing further, Mr Ampaw said: “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, [with] 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,” Ampaw said.
Dealings with Chief Justice
On the specific allegation of some arrangement between himself, Akoto Ampaw, and the Chief Justice, 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,” Ampaw’s statement read.
Reserved rights
He ended his statement: “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 favour 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 said.
Wilberforce Asare
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