The Magistrate of Akatsi, Daniel Dzorkpo, has been interdicted by the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, following a serious allegation of corruption levelled against him by one George Kwadwo Appiah.
Kwadwo Appiah, who alleged that the magistrate takes bribes from accused persons or complainants before he gives a judgment in a case, petitioned the Chief Justice to set up a committee to investigate the misconduct of Mr. Dzorkpo.
A copy of the petition was also sent to the Attorney General�s office, of which the deputy attorney General, Ebo Barton-Oduro, directed the Police CID to investigate. �The petitioner has raised serious allegations of corruption against the magistrate sitting on the case. He has also named certain officers who are privy to this alleged misconduct.
You should therefore cause investigations to be conducted into the allegations and submit the case docket to the Attorney General for study,� Mr Barton-Oduro stated in a directive to the CID boss.
According to the petitioner, the magistrate took GH�900 from him before granting bail to one Samuel Adjei who had been charged for stealing.
Following this request, the Chief Justice, according to reliable sources, has also set up a committee to investigate the conduct of the magistrate, and if he is found guilty, he would probably be prosecuted at a competent court of jurisdiction.
In the petition sent to the Chief Justice, Kwadwo Appiah disclosed that the accused person, a resident at Akim Oda, was arrested on February 20, 2009 and sent to Akatsi in the Volta region where he was detained in police cells.
The suspect was said to have stolen GH�5,000 from his boss, one Yaw Asare Djikunu, a money lender, when he worked for him as an oversight supervisor.
Kwadwo Appiah said the suspect was not granted police enquiry bail when he was first arrested. Later, the investigator in the case, one Corporal Amekudzi, after taking �50, promised to send him to the magistrate to prepare grounds for bail for the accused who was to be charged at the magistrate�s court.
According to him, when they got to the magistrate, he explained everything to him and Mr. Dzorkpo allegedly demanded GH�300.00 from him to settle the matter. He added that Chief Inspector Ashigbi, the prosecutor, also took GH�100 from him before granting the accused person a police enquiry bail to re-appear a week later.
Kwadwo Appiah further indicated that the magistrate, on another visit, again demanded GH�300.00, which he paid. However, when the case was called in court, the magistrate remanded the accused person into police custody.Surprised as he was, Appiah said he confronted the magistrate, demanding reasons for remanding the accused after taking the money.
In response, Kwadwo Appiah said the magistrate indicated that �he did not understand why I should engage the services of a lawyer and that I should have given the lawyer�s fee to him to enable him to manage the case in the favour of the accused� and further requested for another GH�300 before he would grant accused bail. �The investigator also expressed the same sentiment as the magistrate, that I do not need a lawyer in the case,� George added.
The investigator, according to him, again took GH�50 from him before leading him to the magistrate to pay for the GH�300 he requested. Following this payment, the accused was granted bail.
In the course of hearing, Kwadwo Appiah alleged that the magistrate, in the open court, addressed the accused who was now without a representation, as a womanizer and also stated that he believed the accused indeed stole the money from the complainant.
He said as a surety for the accused, he was very surprised about the utterances which to him confirmed rumours that the magistrate has taken money from the complainant.
According to him, the magistrate at one point threatened to jail him and one Assemblyman who stood surety for the accused because the accused, who was then sick, did not attend court.
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