A Retired Supreme Court judge, Dr. Seth Twum told an Accra High Court adjudicating over a case in which two High court judges and a Senior High Court registry are standing trial for misconduct, where the accused persons wrongfully took monies that do not belong to them.

Dr. Twum, was yesterday giving evidence before the court, presided over by Justice Charles Quist in a cross-examination conducted by Chris Ackumey, counsel for one of the accused persons.

Witness was the chairman of the Judicial Service Disciplinary Committed, set up to look into some alleged corrupt conduct on the part of Justice Edward Mensah Boateng, a High Court Judge now on interdiction, Jacob Dickson Owusu, a former Senior High Court Registrar in-charge of the Denu Court at the time of the incident and Justice Michael Kwasi Woanyah, a retired High Court Judge, whose last station was Denu.

The accused person are alleged to have conspired to steal ¢115.18 million. They have been accused of illegally investing and sharing the interest accruing from a fixed deposit of $50,754.94, belonging to two feuding parties, being held in trust by the Ketu High Court at Denu.

According to the Retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Justice noted that an internal audit report produced after conducting investigations was not enough to draw conclusions on the issue as there was need for a disciplinary committee to look into the issues.

Dr. Twum asserted that the order made by the High court did not appoint Owusu as Manager and receiver of a $50,000 -being proceeds from a quarry site due to the landowners, adding that the money was traded in fixed deposit and the profit shared among the three accused persons.

The conduct of the accused persons, witness noted was of interest to the Judicial Service, which culminated to the setting up of the Judicial Disciplinary Committee to conduct further investigations on the issue.

Witness further pointed out that the actions of the accused persons are criminal, as no court registrar was ordered to take custody of the money, invest it in fixed deposits and share the profits, adding that the 1st accused person, Justice Boateng had complained that when it came to the sharing of the money, the two other accused persons cheated him.

The retired Supreme Court judge stressed that the court order for the $50,000 was not made to be paid into any Bank.

Responding to cross-examination to Mr. Owusu Fordjour, counsel for Justice Michael Kwasi Woanyah, Justice (Dr.) Twum noted that his committed did not ask the accused person to produce a written submission but asked all of them to produce witnesses of which Justice Boateng called his wife as a witness.

Witness further affirmed that Justice Woanyah response were not captured in the report produced by the disciplinary committee report noting that appearance in court is an opportunity for the accused person to state his side of the case. Hearing was adjourned to today, March 17, 2010.

According to the facts of the case, the first accused, Justice Edward Mensah Boateng, who presided over a litigation between two parties, claiming a portion of land being used as a quarry by the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company at Denu, ordered that the company pay an amount of $50,754.94 to the court, to be held in trust for whoever emerges as the owner of the land being contested. The company, subsequently, paid the amount to the second accused, Jacob Dickson Owusu, the senior court registrar at the Denu High Court, who is at the centre of the scandal.

Following the payment of the amount to the court, as demanded by Justice Edward Mensah Boateng, the presiding judge and the registrar allegedly connived with him (Edward Mensah Boateng) to invest the money in a fixed deposit account and share the interest accruing there from. The two allegedly changed the dollars into cedis, and opened an account at the Denu branch of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).

Before the deposit could mature, however, the first accused was transferred to Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western Region. While at his new station, he allegedly dispatched his wife to Denu to withdraw the accrued interest. Between October 2001 and May 2004, a total amount of ¢115,173,561.66 accrued, as interest on the fixed deposit, which was withdrawn seven times by the second accused person, who shared it, four times, with the first accused, and three times with the third accused persons.

In November 2002, when the third accused, Justice Woanyah, was transferred to Denu, the second accused briefed him of the sharing arrangement between him and the first accused. Justice Woanyah advised him to stop sharing the money with the first accused, since he, Woanyah, had taken over as judge of the Denu Court.

When the information of the scandal got to the notice of the Judicial Service, a complaint was formally made to the Police, who arrested the accused persons and arraigned them before court.

The first accused, Justice Edward Mensah Boateng, is already on interdiction.