Lead Counsel for former embattled Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, Ayikoi Otoo, has accused the Committee of suppressing crucial exculpatory evidence in its recommendation for her removal from office.

According to him, the committee deliberately ignored a management letter from the Auditor-General’s office, which acknowledged and accepted explanations provided by the Judicial Secretary—the Spending Officer—regarding payments of per diem, travel expenses, and tickets for the Chief Justice’s husband and daughter, who had separately accompanied her on two occasions.

Mr. Otoo, in a statement, revealed that the Director of Finance of the Judicial Service, in his testimony before the committee, confirmed that the matter did not appear in the Auditor-General’s management letter. He also tendered documentary evidence showing that such payments had been made under an established policy dating back to 2010. Witnesses, he noted, further corroborated this position.

“The suppression of this material evidence is a grave miscarriage of justice and renders the committee’s recommendation perverse and absurd,” Mr. Otoo stressed.

He also criticised what he described as flimsy and “equally absurd” grounds cited in the recommendation for removal, including the transfer of a single staff member and the nomination of a judge for promotion, both of which, he argued, fall squarely within the Chief Justice’s constitutional mandate as head of administration and supervisor of judges.

“How many staff and judges has the current Acting Chief Justice transferred, even in his acting capacity?” he asked. “Can any Chief Justice work if such inappropriate excuses are used to remove the head of the third arm of government from office?”

The former Attorney General warned that if the removal of the Chief Justice proceeds on such grounds, it would not only undermine the independence of the judiciary but also erode the constitutional safeguards designed to protect Ghana’s democracy.