Lawyer Kwame Adofo has dismissed allegations of judicial misconduct following the circulation of CCTV footage showing three superior court judges entering Santoku Restaurant in Accra — footage which has fuelled claims of impropriety in a high-profile petition seeking the removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday (23 May), Adofo said the videos — which have sparked public interest after being linked to lawyer Martin Kpebu’s petition — offer no proof of wrongdoing by the judges involved.
“I cannot see any violation of our code of conduct, either by the lawyers or by the judges, and this is why,” Adofo said.
“What I have seen is that there were three individuals entering a restaurant. One was approached and exchanged something like greetings. He subsequently went and greeted some people at the back. That in itself is not enough to establish that it was a breach.”
The videos, one a little over a minute and the other under a minute long, have been cited by critics as circumstantial evidence suggesting possible collusion. But according to Adofo, brief social contact in a public setting does not amount to judicial impropriety.
“There ought to have been more than that,” he argued. “If you see there’s evidence that they sat together on one table, aha, then you are getting there. But not the exchange, you know, the greetings and the hugging. I don’t think that is enough.”
The footage showed Justices Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, Samuel Adibu-Asiedu, and Henry A. Kwofie at the restaurant — but not Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, who is at the centre of the petition. Adofo emphasised that while judges are expected to be circumspect, mere public interaction does not constitute a violation.
“Judges can go to a restaurant and be with themselves there to have a meal,” he said. “They just happened to meet somebody who greeted them. If it’s just that, then that’s not enough.”
The lawyer further noted that unless new footage clearly shows improper conduct — such as the judges and a party to a case sitting and conferring together — the existing clips do not support claims of ethical breaches.
“For now,” Adofo concluded, “on the legal face of it, there is no evidence of any misconduct or untoward behaviour.”
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