Anas Judge Missing

Justice John Ajet Nassam

It has emerged that National Security operatives are on the heels of John Ajet Nassam, one of the High Court judges indicted in the Anas Aremeyaw Anas judicial bribery and corruption scandal.

This revelation comes barely a day after the Chief Justice’s Committee instituted to investigate the scandal had publicly issued a hearing notice to the judge, who was captured on video allegedly receiving bribe at Zongo Junction in Accra. He was said to have received GH₵16,000 to free a suspected criminal.

Justice Ajet Nassam could not be served with a notice to appear before the committee which started sitting earlier this week because he was nowhere to be found.

Speculations are rife that the embattled flamboyant High Court judge might have travelled to Nigeria to visit his spiritual father, Prophet Temitope Balogun (TB) Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).

Ajet Nassam and six other judges, namely Justices Francis K. Opoku, Kofi Essel Mensah, Ernest Obimpeh, Kwame Ohene Essel, Ivy Heward-Mills and Gilbert Ayisi Addo, were recently suspended over allegations of trading justice for pecuniary gains.

An advertiser’s announcement in the media on Tuesday entitled: “In the investigative committee (Article 146); In the matter of a petition by Anas Aremeyaw Anas for the removal from office of Justice John Ajet Nassam”, the committee noted: “You are hereby notified that following a prima facie case established against you on allegation of misconduct for ex-parte discussion with one party on a case pending before you…”

The committee stated the charge against the justices as “bribery and corruption contrary to S.244 of the Criminal Offences Act and Rule 2 of the CCMG.”

According to the announcement issued by the secretary of the committee, Ajet Nassam had up to today to appear before it.

“You are to appear before the said committee on Thursday, 22 October when the matter will come for hearing…You are to note that the committee will proceed on its work if you fail to appear on the said date.”

The publication stated that Ajet Nassam was entitled to call a witness and be represented by a lawyer.

Ajet Nassam had tended his resignation letter to the Chief Justice immediately news about the scandal broke; but it was rejected as confirmed by his counsel later.

Leaked Letter

The judge was worried that his resignation letter of September 8, 2015 could be leaked to the media barely 24 hours after tendering it, stressing that he did not even receive any acknowledgement or response.

According to Ajet Nassam’s lawyer, the intensity of the prejudicial nature of media reportage against him had rendered it “highly impossible to fight back the gnawing feeling that certain media practitioners are making out of the unfortunate situation.”

The lawyer said the splashing of his name and photographs in the media before he was heard was “borne out of a scheme deliberately conceived by the petitioner (Anas) and his agents to entrap and damage” him.

He said he had already been crucified in both the traditional and social media before being heard.

The lawyer raised a question that “if not for the purpose of deliberate vilification to tarnish his reputation, then why would an ordinary activity of a video of him celebrating the birthday of a religious leader, Prophet T.B. Joshua, from whom he draws inspiration and spiritual support, be circulating in the social media before he was asked to respond on the allegation of bribery?”