Asantehene denies bribery allegation

The Manhyia Palace has expressed outrage and fury over a newspaper publication linking the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to the alleged bribery of some Justices of the Supreme Court to swing their ruling on the landmark presidential election petition in favour of President John Dramani Mahama.

In a terse release issued in Kumasi on Tuesday, a copy of which was made available to Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Palace dismissed the claim as not only disgusting but false and malicious.

Equally reprehensible and insulting, it said, was the subsequent comments and suggestions of complicity made by some individuals, and signalled that appropriate response would be given in due course.

Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia V, Bantamahene, jointly signed the release with 14 other chiefs of the Kumasi Traditional Council.

The allegation comes at a time the Asantehene is outside the country.

The New Free Press, a private newspaper, in its September 4, publication alleged that some Justices of the Supreme Court were bribed to give judgment in favour of President Mahama and that Otumfuo Osei Tutu was the conduit through whom the bribery negotiation was effected.

This was aired on Kessben FM, a Kumasi-based Radio Station, in its morning newspaper review on Monday, sparking off a raft of telephone text messages, most of these, unusually critical of the Asantehene and impugned his integrity.

Source: GNA