Justice Yonny Kulendi
A petition has been sent to President John Dramani Mahama calling for the removal of Supreme Court judge, Justice Yonny Kulendi, for alleged judicial misconduct.
The petition, presented by Daniel Marfo Ofori-Atta on September 30, 2025 to the Office of the President, is accusing Justice Kulendi of improper interference in the trial of now Minister of Finance Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa, Director of Operations at the National Security Council.
Citi News reported that the petitioner argues that the alleged actions of Justice Kulendi contravene provisions of the Code of Conduct for Judges and Magistrates.
He further contends that such conduct undermines judicial independence and erodes public trust in the judiciary.
There is no official communication from the Office of the President regarding the petition, and any action taken by the office must be in strict compliance with Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, which deals with the removal of justices of the Superior Courts.
CID Probe
Daniel Marfo Ofori-Atta has also petitioned the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to investigate Justice Yonny Kulendi and Richard Jakpa for allegedly conspiring to interfere with the administration of justice in the ambulance trial.
According to him, Jakpa right from the beginning of the trial in January 2022, allegedly deployed the highly influential Justice Kulendi “to obstruct the course of justice in the case with the ultimate object of ensuring that the prosecution of Richard Jakpa was either abated by the then Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, or he (Jakpa) was acquitted.”
It indicates that the acts of Justice Kulendi and Richard Jakpa border on the commission of crimes relating to interference with legal proceedings.
He detailed court proceedings capturing Jakpa telling the court under cross-examination how he contacted Justice Kulendi, who is his cousin, to assist him in the ongoing trial.
For instance, the petition points out that on January 18, 2022, after Richard Jakpa had been arraigned in court, he solicited the help of Justice Kulendi, to procure the assistance of the then Attorney General “to facilitate the release of Richard Jakpa when he had not satisfied the conditions of the bail granted to him.”
“Justice Kulendi actually went to the office of the former Attorney General, Godfred Dame, to request that his cousin be permitted to go home,” the petition indicated.
It also pointed a proceeding where Richard Jakpa “confessed” to obtaining the telephone number of Mr. Dame from Justice Kulendi, after which he confidently attempted to meet with Mr. Dame and inundated him with many WhatsApp messages.
“The evidence shows that from the time Richard Jakpa first got in touch with Attorney General Godfred Dame via WhatsApp, he sent in all sixty-eight (68) WhatsApp messages to him, in reply to which the then Attorney General sent only two (2). Richard Jakpa confirmed this under cross-examination by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa,” the petition noted.
Again, the petition alleges that Justice Kulendi “lured” Mr. Dame into a meeting at his (Justice Kulendi’s) home to meet Jakpa, after Jakpa’s several attempts to get the former Attorney General to meet him in person failed.
“Indeed, the record showed that apart from inside the courtroom and the house of Justice Yonny Kulendi, Mr. Godfred Dame has never met Mr. Richard Jakpa,” the petition disclosed.
He urged the CID to commence investigations into the conduct of Justice Yonny Kulendi and his cousin, Richard Jakpa, to unravel all acts of criminality disclosed by their conduct, and take such prosecutorial action as is consistent with law.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak