Petition by Daniel Ofori
According to the petition of Daniel Ofori, first, “In 2023, the Honourable Chief Justice misappropriated the sum of GHS 261, 890.00 of public funds for the benefit of the Chief Justice for her private foreign travel with her husband, Mr Francis Kofi Torkornoo, and her daughter Miss Edem S.A. Torkornoo and US$30,000 in per diem allowance when, to her knowledge, neither the husband of the Chief Justice nor the Chief Justice’s daughter were entitled to have their travel or any travel allowances paid for out of the funds of the Judicial Service.
Second, “In 2023, the Honourable Chief Justice misappropriated GHS75,580.00 from public funds to purchase Ethiopian Airlines tickets for the Honourable Chief Justice and her husband during Her Ladyship’s vacation to Arusha, Tanzania.
Third, “In 2023, Her Ladyship the Honourable Chief Justice obtained from the Judicial Service an accountable imprest in the sum of $14,000.00 to the Honourable Chief Justice to travel with her husband to Arusha, Tanzania, which she failed to retire. There are 18 other allegations in Daniel Ofori’s petition.
CJ Response to Daniel Ofori
The Chief Justice, in her response to the first three of the 21 accusations by Daniel Ofori, responded as follows: “The petitioner alleges that as Chief Justice, I misappropriated the sum of Gh¢261, 890.00 of public funds for my private foreign travel with her husband Mr Francis Torkornoo and my daughter Miss Edem Torkornoo when according to him, neither person was entitled to have their travel paid for out of the funds of the Judicial Service of Ghana.
“My humble response is that the allegation is an unfortunate untruth. Please find herewith the following evidence. Paragraph B1 of the “POLICY ON FOREIGN TRAVELS BY HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY AND SUPERIOR COURT JUDGES,” provides for two holidays for the Chief Justice in a year, with travel expenses, hotel accommodation, and per diem to be borne by the Judicial Service and capped at 14 days per round trip.
Paragraph A (9) provides that “The Chief Justice shall undertake unlimited official travels with either his/her Spouse or other person of his/her choice in a year, fully funded by the Judicial Service.”
Paragraph A (10) provides that “Where the Spouse or other person accompanies the Chief Justice, he/she shall travel on the same class of air ticket as the Chief Justice and shall be paid the equivalent of half the per diem paid to the Chief Justice.”
“This has been the policy of the Judicial Service since 2010, as amended in 2019. Exhibit DO (4) is a response to the audit observation provided by the Judicial Secretary to auditors who sought clarification on the expenditure on the ticket purchased for my husband and daughter during my two holidays in 2023.
“On page 1 of Exhibit DO 4, the Judicial Secretary clarified that, as Chief Justice, I opted to utilize the authorization in paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Travel Policy to travel with my spouse and my daughter during my two holidays in September 2023—pursuant to the conditions of appointment of the Chief Justice.
“In view of this option, there was no infraction occasioned when I opted to travel for my two holidays with my spouse on one occasion and my daughter on the second occasion. The Response to Observation 1 and Response to Observation 2 of exhibit DO4 provides an explanation of the expenditure on tickets for my husband and daughter that the petitioner has unfortunately described as misappropriation of public funds by the Chief Justice.
“Response on Page 3 of Exhibit DO4 further confirms that contrary to the unfortunate allegation that I failed to retire imprest of $14,000 given to me for my travel, I spent an amount of $4,411 out of the said imprest and retired the remaining $9,588.20. I also attach herewith exhibit DO 5 in further proof of the retirement of that imprest on 14 September 2023, on my second day at work after the said journey.
“In September 2023, I fell ill from exhaustion when I arrived in Arusha and had to return to Ghana a day early to ensure that I had one full day to journey to Cape Coast for the annual conference of the Ghana Bar Association. This led to a change and re-routing of my return journey to Ghana through Ethiopian Airlines. Page 4 of Exhibit DO 4 provides information on this.
“It is therefore unfortunate that the Petitioner, an outsider to the records of Judicial Service, should create the wrong presentation of this expenditure used for the purchase of tickets for the Chief Justice.
“I wish to state that as Chief Justice, I neither purchase travel tickets, nor determine the per diem issued to me or issued to the aides, security, or persons who are required to travel with me. Neither do I authorize the per diem given to me for any journey.
“The said per diem is determined in accordance with rates set by the Article 71 Committee on Emoluments for the Chief Justice of the Republic. It is also administered by the Judicial Secretary and the Director of Finance of the Judicial Service.
“I am therefore incapable of misappropriating any public funds with respect to a ticket purchased for me or the person accompanying me on a journey, or the per diem issued. Indeed, I am not signatory to any account and do not have access to the accounts of the Judicial Service,” the Chief Justice’s response read.
