….As Ex-Council of State Member breaks silence, demands Police and National Security probe

The Herald’s investigations into claims made by a New Patriotic Party (NPP) activist that three Supreme Court Justices held a meeting at a restaurant in the Villagio apartment complex concerning the ongoing probe into suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo are proving to be entirely unfounded.

Their presence at the upscale Santoku Restaurant on Thursday, 15 May 2025, has been described as purely coincidental and bears no relation to what Alfred Ababio Kumi, the NPP activist, alleged in his petition, which Daily Graphic and Asaase Radio widely reported.

While Justices Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, Samuel Adibu-Asiedu, and Henry A. Kwofie were indeed at the Santoku Restaurant that evening for unknown reasons, Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, the central figure in Kumi’s claim, was not present.

According to The Herald’s findings, lawyer Thaddeus Sory had gone to the restaurant with his client, Dr Nii Kotei Dzani, President of Groupe Ideal and onetime Council of State Member, for dinner while they awaited a scheduled meeting with a prominent Ghanaian politician who resides in the Villagio complex.

A source familiar with similar politically-motivated smear tactics likened Kumi’s claims to a past fabrication by the Progress Party of Justice Apaloo and Sallah’s alleged dinner at the Continental Hotel. Sallah’s lawyers had to do some detective work to expose the lie. The court asked that the witness face perjury charges. But because the government had procured him to lie, they refused to pursue the charges.

The Herald understands that Justice Kulendi’s presence at Santoku was brought to Sory’s attention by Dr Dzani, who had driven the lawyer to the venue. Despite a well-known frosty relationship between the two, as former partners at the law firm Kulendi@Law, Justice Kulendi is said to have approached Sory warmly, embraced him, and exchanged pleasantries with both him and Dr Dzani.

Before departing their table, Justice Kulendi pointed out the presence of Justices Asiedu and Kwofie, seated in a distant corner of the restaurant, far from Sory and Dzani.

As a mark of respect, both Sory and Dzani, lawyers, bowed in acknowledgement of the two other Supreme Court Justices before continuing with their dinner.

Reverend Oduro Kwapong and Dr Sangu Delle, Chairperson of Ashesi University’s Board of Directors, were also present at the restaurant that evening. Both can independently attest to whether any such meeting took place between Sory and the judges.

It is believed the restaurant has CCTV cameras installed, which could verify that the encounter between Sory and the three Justices was purely coincidental, and not a clandestine plot against the suspended Chief Justice.

Dr Dzani has since confirmed to The Herald that Sory is his legal counsel and that he picked him up from his law firm at around 7:00 p.m. in a Toyota Land Cruiser. They had planned to have dinner while waiting for their 8:00 p.m. meeting with the politician.

He described Kumi’s petition as “not true” and “totally false”.

Dr Dzani recalled that Justice Kulendi identified the other two judges to them. He noted one was heavier in build, clearly not Justice Pwamang, who is known to be tall and medium-sized.

“We were seated at separate tables. We finished our meal and left. There was nothing like a meeting. There was nobody called Daniel Ofori present. In fact, we were nearly done and about to leave when the judges walked in,” he stated.

Dr Dzani said he is ready to cooperate with any investigation, including those by the Ghana Police Service or the National Security apparatus.

He also revealed that Sory had expressed discomfort about dining in such a high-end restaurant, remarking that he preferred eating in the “ghettos”. “But for me and our planned meeting, Sory would never have been at Santoku to encounter Yonny,” Dzani said.

He strongly dismissed the claim of a planned dinner meeting involving Sory and the three Justices as “a palpable lie”. “We left immediately after dinner for our meeting, which had been scheduled for 8:00 p.m.,” he added.

Dr Dzani said he intends to write to President John Dramani Mahama in response to the petition circulating online to set the record straight.

“I am considering writing to the President to say that I have become aware of the false claims made by Alfred Ababio Kumi, and to provide the true account. If there was a meeting that night at Santoku, Thaddeus Sory was certainly not part of it — because as soon as our dinner ended, we left together,” he emphasised.

He called on the Ghana Police Service and National Security to obtain CCTV footage from the restaurant to verify his account and disprove the allegation that Sory dined with Justices Pwamang, Adibu-Asiedu, and Kulendi.

“In Ghanaian culture, if someone greets you, you naturally return the greeting — and that is all that happened,” he told The Herald.

Sory has taken to Facebook to categorically deny the allegations, describing them as “a monstrous lie”.

“No such meeting took place. It is very easy to fact-check that. We know those who get justice through negotiation,” he posted on Tuesday, 20 May 2025.

Kumi, a former NPP parliamentary aspirant in Adenta in the Greater Region, petitioned President Mahama to dissolve the five-member committee set up to investigate the petitions against the suspended Chief Justice, citing the alleged dinner meeting as a conflict of interest.

However, The Herald can confirm that Justice Kulendi is not even a member of the committee.

The committee, constituted under Article 146(6) of the 1992 Constitution and announced on 22 April 2025, is chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang and includes Justice Samuel Adibu-Asiedu, Daniel Yao Domelovo, Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo, and Professor James Sefah Dzisah.

In his petition, reportedly dated 19 May 2025, Kumi alleged that Justices Pwamang, Adibu-Asiedu, and Kulendi were seen dining with Sory — counsel for petitioner Daniel Ofori — on the evening of the committee’s inaugural sitting.

“The meeting between Justices Pwamang, Kulendi and Asiedu with Thaddeus Sory has clearly tainted the integrity of the process and reduced public confidence in it,” Asaase Radio quoted from the petition.

But with Justice Kulendi not being a member of the committee and the timeline of events contradicting the claims, the weight of evidence continues to cast serious doubt on the veracity of Kumi’s allegations, which many now view as a politically motivated distraction from a lawful constitutional process.