Martin Amidu is palpably wrong - Omane Boamah

Communication Minister, Dr Omane Boamah, has denied Martin Amidu’s claim that Government and Tiger Eye collaborated in the undercover investigations into the judiciary.

He said the claims by the former Attorney General are unfortunate. "Martin Amidu is palpably wrong", he said.

He told the Super Morning Show Tuesday the investigation by Tiger Eye PI into the Judiciary "came to the attention of government when it has been concluded. So one is at the loss why someone who could have been the vice President would take such a destruction path".

The former Attorney General Martin Amidu has alleged that the Presidency commissioned Anas Aremeyaw Anas-led private investigative company Tiger Eye PI to investigate perceived corruption in the three arms of government – Judiciary, Legislature and the Executive.

Martin Amidu, who has come to be known as the citizen vigilante said the John Mahama-led administration in concert with Anas Aremeyaw Anas' Tiger Eye PI unveiled corruption in the judiciary to the public, but decided to hide similar, if not worse corrupt activities at legislature and the executive from the public.

"What nauseates me in the whole judicial corruption scandal as a not-for profit anti-corruption crusader is the posture of the Government through the President and the Attorney General in using the results of its commissioned undercover investigations to detract attention from the Gargantuan political corruption that has engulfed not only the Government but the Legislature as well,” Martin Amidu wrote in an explosive article titled, “The Ghanaian sense of justice: corrupt judges removed, corrupt attorneys rewarded and corrupt politicians protected”.

However, in a quick response, Dr Omane Boamah said "the fact remains that no such collaboration existed between government and Tiger Eye and it must rest there".

Tiger Eye PI has also condemned Martin Amidu's allegations.

Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper Kweku Baako Jnr and Anas Aremeyaw Anas insist the latest corruption exposé by Tiger Eye PI was without government involvement.

"Government did not, repeat, [did] not commission the Anas Project on Judicial Corruption. Neither did Anas/Tiger Eye collaborate with any State Security or Law Enforcement Agency in pursuit of this particular project," Kweku Baako said in a Facebook post.

In the wake of the judicial scandal, the New Crusading Guide newspaper was serialising exclusive transcripts of video footage of the judges allegedly caught taking bribes from undercover journalists.

Furthermore, Anas Aremeyaw Anas in a rebuttal to claims by Martin Amidu that Tiger Eye was suppressing the corruption it unraveled in the legislature and the executive said: "We are aware of information in the public domain that we have conducted similar investigations into the legislature and executive. We will not confirm or deny that. No self-respecting investigation body will speak to such matters, even if it is not conducting such investigations. It is a fact that we have shown a 20-minute film to the leadership of Parliament. But that was a 20-minute cut of the “GHANA IN THE EYES OF GOD” film on the same judicial corruption expose."

On whether the government commissioned the investigations he said: "In the case of our recent exposé into judicial corruption titled “GHANA IN THE EYES OF GOD”, we had no such collaboration. We did not seek it, did not want it, did not need it and did not require it. Nobody in government commissioned the work. It was our own singular work and effort. It might be difficult for Mr. Amidu and some to believe that we could undertake such a gargantuan task, unaided and unassisted. But those are the facts," he stated.

Presidential advisor on corruption Daniel Batidam also said on Newsnight Monday that he cannot confirm whether the expose on the judiciary was commissioned by the presidency.

The former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice was axed by late President John Evans Atta Mills in 2012.

Prior to his removal, he had made scalding public statements about some key persons in government that point to a grand scheme to rob the state.

Martin Amidu said that his “integrity and professionalism as a lawyer was a threat to the concealment of gargantuan crimes against the people of Ghana in which they might be implicated”.

The late President demanded proof from Martin Amidu – without which he would be sacked – or a resignation letter.