A Ghanaian citizen, James Kofi Afedo, has petitioned the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to immediately arrest and prosecute former Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey-Torkornoo for alleged misuse of public funds and willfully causing financial loss to the state.
The petition, dated September 17, 2025, and received by EOCO on September 23, was addressed to the Executive Director of EOCO, Mr. Raymond Archer.
In it, Mr. Afedo accused the former Chief Justice of breaching financial laws by using Judicial Service funds to cover travel and per diem expenses for her husband and daughter during private trips abroad.
According to the petitioner, Sackey-Torkornoo authorised the payment of state resources to sponsor her husband’s travel with her to Tanzania in 2023, where he also received per diem for the duration of what was described as a private holiday.
Similarly, she is alleged to have used public funds to sponsor her daughter’s travel to the United States of America, also providing her with per diem allowances for the duration of another private trip.
Mr. Afedo argued that these actions violated Section 96(1)(c) and (d) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), which prohibits the misapplication of public funds, as well as Section 179A(3) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), which criminalises causing financial loss to the state.
The petition further referenced the recent findings of a constitutional committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama, on the advice of the Council of State, to probe the allegations against the former Chief Justice.
The committee concluded that Sackey-Torkornoo’s conduct “constitutes unlawful expenditure of public funds” and described the payments as “avoidable and reckless dissipation of public funds.”
“It cannot be justified in law or policy,” the committee stated in its report, portions of which were cited by Mr. Afedo. He emphasised that the committee’s damning findings were central to the decision to remove Sackey-Torkornoo from office as Chief Justice and Justice of the Supreme Court earlier this month.
Attached to the petition was a letter dated September 1, 2025, and signed by the Secretary to the President, Dr. Calistus Mahama, formally notifying Sackey-Torkornoo of her dismissal from office.
Mr. Afedo urged EOCO to obtain a copy of the full committee report to support its investigations and to ensure accountability for what he described as a “reckless misuse of public resources” by the country’s former top judicial officer.
“Those acts [of the former Chief Justice] … to have been occasioned by the overall head of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service, whose duty it is to guard public resources allocated by the Government, is caught within the spectrum of stated misbehaviour,” the committee noted in its report.
The petition concluded with a call for EOCO to act decisively: “I trust that my humble petition will receive your needed attention and due consideration,” Mr. Afedo wrote.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
