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Information Gathered by the Daily Heritage from the corridors of some of the sacked Circuit and Magistrate Court Judges indicates that they are considering venturing into private practice after their dismissal.

The hope of the judges is that the General Legal Council would not revoke their licences to ban them from going into private practice.

The paper also gathered that the place to put up their offices for the private practice is a worry to the judges because of fear of being stigmatized by the public.

A close source to some of the sacked judges told the paper that some of them have been considering swearing affidavits to have their names changed to ensure that people are not able to identify them easily when they venture into private practice.

The Chief Justice, Theodora Georgina Wood, on Monday sacked 20 judges caught in the judicial corruption scandal after painstaking investigations by undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

Shock

Speaking to the Daily Heritage in an interview, Lawyer George Asumeni, who led five of the sacked circuit court judges who appeared before the disciplinary committee said they received the Chief Justice's decision with “shock.”

“To be honest, it was shocking; we were not expecting anything like this. We were thinking that they will be reprimanded other than removal.

“We received calls from the Chief Justice's office asking us to come with our clients to the office, most of my clients were unavailable, so I had to go and represent them. When we received the letters the only thing I could do was to be circumspect and then call them individually and tell them what happened. It was a very difficult situation, nobody expected anything like that,” he told the paper when asked about how he received the news.

“They (clients) actually wanted to know the next line of action, but I indicated to them that it is too early.”

Judges hospitalized

The paper gathered that some of the sacked judges were hospitalized after receiving the news of their removal, but when asked if any of his clients was a victim, Lawyer Assumeni said, “To the best of my knowledge no, but one of my clients was already at the hospital before the announcement,” he noted.

Judges showed remorse

The lawyer added that some of the implicated judges “immediately felt that it was wrong, it struck them that it was wrong and they shouldn't have entertained complete visitors or people posing as litigants before them and straight away they apologized.”

Sacked judges without benefits

His Honour Benjamin Y. Osei – Circuit Court, Juaben, Her Honour Florence Otoo Ninepence – Circuit Court, Tema, His Honour Isaac B. Akwantey – Circuit Court , Wa, His Honour Alex Obeng Asante – Circuit Court, Tarkwa and His Honour Emmanuel K. Sunu – Circuit Court, Bolgatanga

Others were His Honour Baptist Kwadwo Filson – Circuit Court, Bibiani, His Honour Emmanuel Opare – Circuit Court , Techiman, His Worship Samuel Ahiabor – District Court, Adidome and His Worship William Baffoe – District Court , Cape Coast.

The magistrate court judges sacked without benefits were His Worship Michael Boamah Gyamfi – District Court, Mampongteng, His Worship Jacob Amponsah – District Court, Ejisu, His Worship Frank Kingley Oppong – District Court, Kasoa, His Worship Samuel Esselwalker – District Court, Bolgatanga and His Worship Alfred K. A Mensah – District Court, Somanya

With Benefits

His Honour Seyram Tsatsu Azumah – Circuit Court, Akropong, His Worship Paul K. Alhassan – District Court, Agona, His Worship Albert Zoogah – District Court, Ashaiman and His Worship Courage Ofori Afriyie – District Court, Offinso.

Two others are yet to be informed about the decision of the judicial council through their lawyers. Their names have, therefore, been withheld. One judge, His Worship Samuel Essel-Walker has been reprimanded.