A former head of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice [CHRAJ], has called for thorough independent investigations into bribery allegation being levelled against the finance committee of the previous parliament.
Emile Short believes the allegation against the committee is very serious and could have dire implication for the house. It will also dampen the trust reposed in the legislature by Ghanaians as a check on other arms of government.
Documents intercepted by Accra based JoyFM has revealed the National Lottery Authority [NLA] made attempts to influence the finance committee of the previous parliament, to speed up the passage of amendments to the National Lottery Act, 2006 (Act 722).
Former Chairman, James Klutse Avedzi, has admitted the committee received a total of Ȼ100,000 from the NLA upon a request.
This contradicted earlier claims by legal adviser of the NLA, David Lamptey, that the money was used to facilitate a workshop by his outfit for the committee members to enlighten them on the amendments to the act.
Commenting on the development on JoyFm, Justice Emile Short said the independent investigations should analyse payment vouchers, and other receipts documents to establish the facts.
He believes this is crucial to maintaining the credibility of the house especially after questions were raised about how parliament handled another bribery scandal involving the appointment committee few weeks ago.