Richard Jakpa
A HIGH COURT in Accra has set June 13, 2024 to decide whether or not to admit into evidence a secretly recorded conversation between the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame and businessman, Richard Jakpa, who is standing trial in the €2.37 million ambulance case.
While the Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, is urging the court to exclude the tape from the ongoing trial on ground that it is not relevant, the defence had made an argument that the content of the conversation borders on matters relating to the trial.
Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and Richard Jakpa are standing trial for willfully causing financial loss of €2.37 million to the State, through a contract to purchase 200 ambulances for the Ministry of Health, among other charges.
Jakpa, while under cross examination by counsel for Dr. Forson, had claimed that the Attorney General had impressed on him to implicate the MP in order to secure his conviction.
He later handed over a secretly recorded conversation between himself and the Attorney General to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the party, at a press conference called on the Attorney General to resign.
Counsels for the accused persons later filed multiple applications before the court, with the MP seeking a mistrial and an injunction against the Attorney General while Jakpa sought the court to strike out the charge against him on ground that it violated his right to fair trial.
The Office of the Attorney General in response to the applications, described them as frivolous, and that “the accused persons are bent on using any means necessary, fair, or foul, to abort their legitimate prosecution for crimes committed against the Republic, and must not be aided in that illegitimate endeavour through a grant of the instant application.”
Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe last Thursday dismissed the applications by finding that there is no legal basis for the grant of the applications.
Tendering
Lawyers of Dr. Forson are now seeking to have the secretly recorded tape admitted as evidence in the trial, arguing that is it relevant to the determination of the case.
The request was opposed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, who argued that sufficient foundation had not been laid for its admission into evidence in the ongoing trial.
She said there is no relevance or whatsoever for the court to put any weight on the tape as it does not help the court to arrive at a decision.
“This recording is of no significance whatsoever in arriving at any decision in respect of the action of the accused persons that have resulted in financial loss to the state,” she argued.
The DPP also averred that the circumstances under which the tape was recorded raised constitutional matters regarding the right to privacy of the Attorney General, and indicated that defence counsel did not allude to the exceptions under Article 18(2) under which the tape could have been admitted because it deals with the prevention of crime or disorder.
“Which crime were they trying to prevent for them to want to tender this tape in evidence… they have not stated that an offence known under our jurisprudence would have been prevented. They have also not reported any crime to the police,” Mrs. Obuobisa argued.
Opposition
The objection was opposed by Dr. Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba, counsel for Dr. Forson who argued that the content of the audio is absolutely relevant to the current proceedings as it relates to discussions about the subject matter of the supply agreement and the authorisation that was sent by the Ministry of Finance to the Bank of Ghana for the establishment of Letters of Credit.
He also argued that admitting the recording into evidence does not breach Article 18(2) and this is consistent with cases such as the famous Raphael Cubagee case which the court referred to in its ruling on the applications.
“Sufficient evidence has been laid for the admissibility of this tape. A3 (Jakpa) has admitted that he had interactions with the AG and the interaction was recorded. It doesn’t sin against any rule of laying prosper foundation for a document to be admitted in evidence,” Dr. Bamba added.
Early Completion
Meanwhile, the Trial Judge has urged the parties to help the court conclude the case early, indicating that the trial could be concluded before the end of the legal year (July 31).
Her request came at the back of a letter written to the court by the Speaker of Parliament asking the court to allow Dr. Forson to skip court so that he could be present in Parliament yesterday.
The Judge said she absolutely respects the position of the lawmaker but assuming he was the headmaster of a school, could he seek to be absent from proceedings because school was reopening?
Justice Asare-Botwe pointed that the same principle she placed on Mahama Ayariga case is the same principle she is applying in this case, adding that, when a Member of Parliament is called as a witness, the principle is different from when he/she is being called as an accused.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak