Justice Koomson Makes U-Turn �Tells Media To Freely Report Proceedings

An Accra High Court Judge, Justice George K. Koomson, who on Tuesday threatened to jail the Editor of The New Crusading GUIDE should he fail to disclose the identity of his source of information if he was called upon to do so, yesterday beat a retreat in Court and said he was no longer going to traverse that quicksand. Justice Koomson issued the threat when Sylvia Cudjoe, Counsel for former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings on Monday drew the attention of the Court to a publication by The New Crusading GUIDE in which Albert A Barnafo Jnr, son of Dr. Albert Owusu Barnafo was said to hold a Power of Attorney granted to him to undertake some investigations. To the surprise of many people in the Commercial Court B room yesterday, Justice Koomson said he wielded no power to stop any journalist from reporting Court proceedings but �you (Journalists) must identify yourself properly so that the Court can give you official documentation.� The New Crusading GUIDE yesterday reported that Justice Koomson had threatened in open Court that he may compel the Editor of this paper to disclose the identity of his source of information which was used to publish a story last Monday in which Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings was said to be in a fierce legal fight with Dr. Albert Owusu Barnafo, over a divested state asset. Reacting to the said publication which was under the heading �JUDGE THREATENS TO THROW EDITOR IN JAIL�If He Fails To Disclose His Source� in which the Judge was quoted to have threatened that �I may compel the Editor to disclose the source of his information and should he fail, I will throw him into jail�, Justice Koomson said, �Because of this publication, I have had numerous telephone calls across the country and especially from Wa, my former duty post�. According to him, the publication by this paper had made him even more popular and that many people he hitherto did not hear from yesterday called to check on him. He however cautioned the media to be circumspect in their reportage since �at the end of the day, your (media) publications cannot change my judgment�. Meanwhile, a witness, Kwaku Kum during an examination by Counsel for the former First Lady, told the Court that he registered NEWGEN INVESTMENTS LTD which he said was owned by an accounting firm at the 31st December Women�s Movement Headquarters located at Ridge.. He also revealed that there were two signatories being Dr. Albert Owusu Barnafo and the late Edmund Arnong at the time of registration. Nineteen (19) years after the divestiture of 75% of Government of Ghana (GoG) shares in the State-owned Enterprise (SoE), the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL), and 9 years after an Accra Fast Track High Court acquitted and discharged Madam Hanny Sherry Ayittey, then Treasurer of the 31st December Women�s Movement (DWM), and Mr. Emmanuel Agbodo, a former Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) in the protracted Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL) Divestiture Trial, Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, President of 31st DWM and Mr. Samuel Appiah-Ampofo, former National Insurance Commissioner, have initiated legal action in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Justice, claiming to be the �sole shareholders� of 15% of the divested shares of GREL which officially stand in the name of a company named NEWGEN INVESTMENTS LTD.! Mrs. Rawlings and her partner, Mr. Appiah-Ampofo, as plaintiffs, are seeking among others reliefs, a declaration to the effect that the 1st Defendant, Dr. Albert Owusu Barnafo, incidentally a Prosecution Witness in the GREL Divestiture Trial (from November 2001 to April 2005), �was only a BARE TRUSTEE of the 500 shares held by him (Barnafo) in the 3rd Defendant company (NEWGEN INVESTMENTS LTD.)�. They are also seeking a declaration that �the shares held by the 1st Defendant (Dr. Barnafo) have been validly transferred to the 2nd Plaintiff (Mrs. Rawlings)�. Mrs. Rawlings was in court as Plaintiff. The case was adjourned to Thursday, 4th December, 2014.