The strenuous efforts by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, to extricate herself from claims that her outfit is very corrupt is not yielding any fruit as The Herald has once again chanced upon yet another instance of a judge, using his office to defraud a 36-year old businessman, of the sum of ¢420 million (old cedi).

The judge, Mr. Richard Aseidu-Bedu, formerly of Cape Coast Circuit Court in the Central Region succeeded in collecting the amount from Eric Aidoo, after a promise to influence a Swedru-based judge, Mr. Nathaniel K. Osam, to set free his brother, who had been arrested and charged by the police for a traffic offence.

Mr. Aseidu-Bedu, who was once on interdiction over a fraud-related case, started by collecting GH¢ 600.00 from the businessman, Eric Aidoo, to pay the judge to have his brother released, and subsequently took GH¢42, 000 from the businessman under the guise of a loan.

The victim is the second businessman to have come out publicly to raise issues of fraud against the Circuit Court judge, who is now presiding over a Circuit Court in Kpando in the Volta Region.

In 2009, an Accra-based businessman, Alhaji Taufig Mohammed Gariba, accused him of forging his signature and also using court facilities, while at Cape Coast, to dupe him of a total of three billion, Ninety Six million, One hundred and Eighty Nine Thousand Four Hundred cedis.

In the present case, Mr. Aidoo, who walked into The Herald’s office, disclosed that on June 6, 2010, he came into contact with Mr. Asiedu-Bedu, who demanded GH¢500.00 from him to influence his colleague judge at a court in Swedru release his brother, who was arrested by the police in connection with a traffic offence.

Aidoo said in desperation to get his brother freed, he fell for the demand and even added GH¢100.00 to the GH¢500.00 as money to fuel for Mr. Asiedu-Bedu’s car.

True to his words, Aidoo said his half-brother by name Mark Addokoh, was freed, and he was so thankful to the judge for his effort at getting his brother, a commercial vehicle driver out of the grips of the police.

Subsequently, Mr. Asiedu-Bedu approached him Aidoo for ¢700 million, as loan to finance the construction of a school complex building he had embarked upon at Assin Fosu, also in the Central Region. However, Not having that much on him, Mr. Aidoo told The Herald that he told the judge that he could only offer GH¢10, 000.

In order for him to be convinced, and part away with the money, he was ferried to Assin Fosu by Mr. Asiedu-Bedu, and after a tour round the school complex named Maame Afla –after the judge’s mother – he gave out the ¢420 million to him with assurance that he was a judge whose character must be above reproach.

Mr. Aidoo who deals in musical instruments between Ghana and La Cote D’Ivoire, said he had to fall on friends who were in the same business with him, to raise the ¢420 million for the judge.

The victim said after collecting the money, the judge started playing games with him. A three-day promise to pay back the money elapsed without a word from him.

Unable to contain the pressure from those who loaned him the money, the victim said he reported the matter to the Accra Regional Police Station, but he was advised by the Greater Accra Regional Commander, Rose Atinga-Bio to rather seek the services of a lawyer.

The advice came after the police boss met the judge in her office.

Mr. Aidoo said he subsequently petitioned Chief Justice Wood, on December 9, 2010, for her intervention to get the money back from Mr. Asiedu-Bedu, in order to give it back to the people from whom he had collected it; but that did not yield any fruit.

Chief Justice Wood, according to Aidoo, convened a meeting where the judge, and himself were summoned to meet a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Rose Owusu and some other judges belonging to the Public Complaints and Court Inspectorate Unit.

At the initial meeting, the judge denied knowledge of Aidoo, but during the second meeting where the victim produced two witnesses, in the persons of Messrs Gyamfi and Frimpong, in addition to some recordings of conversations, between him (judge) and the victim, in relation to the money, the judge broke down and conceded having taken money from the victim, whose business has since hit the rocks.

Asiedu-Bedu,, then pleaded that the case should not be used against him officially, because it was a business transaction he entered into with the victim. The Chief Justice was said to have accepted his plea, and on May 5, 2011, instructed Mr. D.B. Afari, the Administrator of the Public Complaints and Court Inspectorate Unit, to write to the victim, requesting him to institute a civil action against the judge to recover his money.

According to Aidoo, he got a lawyer to write to the judge, requesting him to settle his indebtedness to him. Aidoo said he was surprised at the Circuit Court judge’s answer to the letter that he owed him (Aidoo) no money.

He therefore decided to put the matter before the public first before instituting a legal action for the retrieval of his money.

When The Herald called the judge on the matter, he said Aidoo had filed a writ against him at an Accra High Court, to which he had entered an appearance, and, therefore, he was not going to discuss the matter.

He told The Herald that Aidoo was economical with the facts of the matter, to the paper. However, a few minutes after talking to him, a lady called Mrs. Sarah Owusu-Darlington, claiming to be the Cape Coast Regional Correspondent for “The Daily Guide”, called, pleading that the story be put aside so that the issue could be resolved without it being put in the public domain.

Mrs. Owusu-Darlington, who said the judge is her uncle, in her interaction with The Herald mistook the present issue at stake to be one that concerned the over ¢3 billion gold fraud case, involving her uncle, in which Alhaji Taufig Mohammed Gariba was made to part with the cash on a pretext of getting gold to abroad.

When it was pointed out to her that this was a different case, she became confused, saying, “I tried to check it with him (Mr. Asiedu-Bedu) but he insisted that it is the gold case. So I am even confused myself, I don’t know what to do”