Injunction Case Adjourned

The writ filed by 14 judges against Chief Justice Georgina Theodora wood, who instituted the Disciplinary Committee of the Judicial Council (JC) to look into the corruption scandal that has hit the judiciary, as unearthed by investigative reporter, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, was heard in an Accra high court yesterday. John Ndebugri, counsel for the judges, told the court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, that he received the response of the state attorney � Mrs. Helen Ziwu � less than 30 minutes before the case was called; and described it as very voluminous. Mrs. Ziwu prayed the court to adjourn the case to today because of the sensitive nature of it, and also in view of the fact that the Judicial Council had to suspend its sitting because of the injunction placed on it. Ndebugri did not hesitate to let the court know that they (lawyers) served the state attorneys on September 11, 2015 and allowed them all the time they needed to respond, pointing out that they were just served a voluminous document and the state wanted them to go through quickly and move their application. Charles Bentum of Bentum, Amoah & Co � lawyers for the 14 circuit court judges and magistrates told journalists yesterday that the committee had suspended sitting in view of the pending injunction before the high court. The trial judge sided with Ndebugri and said the state attorneys should have filed their response earlier if they wanted the injunction to be moved yesterday. In addition, Justice Torkonoo said the applicants should be given enough time to respond to whatever the state had filed. She consequently adjourned the case to September 25, 2015. The judges in the case include Emmanuel Kofi Sunu, Benjamin Yaw Osei, Kojo Filson, Seyirame Tsatsu Azuman, Isaac Akwetey, Florence Ninepins, Jacob Amponsah, Alfred K.A. Mensah, Albert Zugah, Isaac Amoah, Paul Alhassan, Michael Gyamfi Boamah, Stephen Assure and Williams Baffour. It may be recalled that a group of circuit court judges and magistrates had sued the CJ over the legality of the disciplinary committee. They wanted a declaration that the disciplinary proceedings by the Judicial Council against them was contrary to law and or due process. They were also asking the high court to declare that the panel constituted by the CJ to institute disciplinary proceedings against them had no legal basis and therefore null and void.