Alleged fraud at CJ's office: My hands are clean – Justice Adjei

An Appeals Court Judge working at the office of the Chief Justice, has described as false media reports that a bribery alle­gation has been levelled against him.

According to Justice Dennnis Dominic Adjei, never in his entire career has he been influenced by money or material things in the discharge of his duties.

"I am a man of repute, integrity and of good moral. I have not and will not engage in any dubious and scandalous activities," he stated.

His comments come in the wake of media reports alleging that he had received bribes from Bright Akwantey and Benjamin Yaw Osei to facilitate their promotions in the Judicial Service and travel opportu­nities abroad.

Mr Akwantey and Osei are part of the Circuit Court Judges who were recently dismissed from the Service by President John Dramani Mahama fol­lowing the corruption scan­dal that rocked the Judicial Service.

The two had petitioned the Chief Justice to imme­diately investigate the con­duct of Justice Dominic Adjei.

But speaking in an interview with over the bribery allegation, the Appeals Court Judge said such claims should be dismissed because they lacked merit and had no basis.

He said in the Judicial Service, there is an orderly and procedural line to be followed to secure a pro­motion.

Therefore, he said, it was imperative to draw the entire nation's attention to procedures and processes which are "so tight and rigid that nobody has the power to influence the process."

"Whenever there are promotions, nominations are brought from three offices—the Chief Justice, Attorney General and the Ghana Bar Association— and sent to the Judicial Council chaired by the Chief Justice. Afterwards, Oversight Judges will peruse the compilations from the Judicial Council and send [them] back to the Council for formal scrutiny before they are forwarded to the Examina­tion Council where Exter­nal Examiners are involved in the process," he dis­closed.

He added: "After pass­ing through the exams, a qualified individual is required to be called for an interview and when suc­ cessful, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) takes over and con­ducts a thorough back­ground check of the indi­vidual. When all these con­ditions are done and set, it is then sent to the President for him to assent to the nominations."