-As A-G files motion to oust him from Ya-Na’s murder trial

By Livingstone Pay Charlie,

The High Court judge sitting on the Ya Na murder trial and who the
Attorney-General wants replaced, Justice Anthony Oppong, is in trouble for
allegedly making prejudicial comments after gulping down bottles of beer at a
bar.
The judge, who was transferred from Sekondi to Accra, was said to have told two
of his friends at the Air Force Officers Mess in Takoradi that he would “throw
out” the prosecution’s case if he was given the chance to sit on the Ya-Na’s
murder case.
The Attorney-General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has taken strong exceptions to the
alleged effusion of Justice Anthony Oppong and is the reason why, according to
our intel sources, she wants him replaced.
She filed a motion yesterday seeking the judge to be replaced in the Ya-Na
murder trial.
When the case was called before Justice Anthony Oppong early this week, the
prosecution protested against his sitting on the case, saying he will not be
fair.

Usually reliable sources told this paper a man and a woman (names withheld for
now), who were with the judge at the beer bar have made their statements to the
Attorney-General’s office.
A tape recording which according to sources, confirmed the alleged prejudicial
comments of the judge, has been made available to the Attorney-General.
Justice Oppong is said to be one of the pro-NPP judges who has decided to join
the agenda of judicial terrorism against the NDC government.
According to records, he was implicated in an Auditor- General’s report which
exposed illegal payments that the police has been making to some judges after
fines were paid by drivers and defaulters to the courts.
During the NPP regime, he underwent training in order to sit at the Automated
Commercial Court to sit on cases involving commercial drivers who had flouted
road traffic regulations.
The audit report also implicated the then Justice Williewise Kyeremeh, who
subsequently resigned from the judiciary and consigned himself to private
practice in Sunyani.

It is not immediately clear what happened during the NPP regime for the case of
Justice Oppong to be pushed under the carpet.
Currently, the ruling NDC is attributing the loss of court cases by the
Attorney-General’s department to pro-NPP judges who have refused to listen to
sound and cogent legal reasoning to judge cases.