Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Attorney General has dropped all charges against Dr. Sylvester Anemana, a former Chief Director at the Ministry of Health who was standing trial alongside Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson for causing financial loss to the state.
Dr. Anemana was standing trial together with Dr. Forson and private businessman, Richard Jakpa, 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.
He was personally charged for abetting Dr. Forson “to willfully cause financial loss of €2,370,000 to the Republic by facilitating Cassiel Ato Forson’s authorisation of irrevocable letters of credit under which payments were made to Big Sea General Trading Ltd of Dubai for the supply of vehicles purporting to be ambulances without due cause and authorisation.”
He was also charged for breaching the Public Procurement Act by making false representations in order to indirectly influence the procurement process for the purpose of obtaining an unfair advantage in the award of a single sourced contract to Big Sea General Trading Ltd of Dubai for the supply of ambulances.
But the Attorney General, in a Nolle Prosequi dated March 8, 2024, has discontinued the case against him, leaving the court to discharge him.
A Nolle Prosequi is the dismissal or termination of legal proceedings by the Attorney General.
The case was yesterday held in the chambers of Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as additional High Court judge, and it was not immediately clear why the charges were dropped.
But information picked later by DAILY GUIDE indicates that it was due to Dr. Anemana’s health condition which has forced him to fly to India to receive medical treatment.
It said the move is to avoid the possibility of holding the trial in abeyance as it is not clear when he would be returning to Ghana or would be healthy enough to join proceedings virtually.
The decision to drop the charges against Dr. Anemana means he no longer needs to complete his defence by way of undergoing further cross-examination by counsel for Mr. Jakpa nor a cross-examination by the prosecution.
This means Mr. Jakpa will on March 19, 2024 open his defence. He has decided to give oral testimony instead of filing a witness statement.
Trial
The ambulances, according to court documents, are ordinary buses which are not fit for purpose as they do not have the needed equipment that an ambulance requires.
The prosecution, led by the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, and Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa, closed its case on February 14, 2023 after calling five witnesses, including the then Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu to prove its case.
The main issue raised during the prosecution’s case was whether the defective vehicles were purchased in accordance with the purchase agreement approved by Parliament.
The other was whether Dr. Forson was authorised by the substantive Finance Minister or any superior officer to write a letter to the Controller and Accountant General directing the establishment of irrevocable letters of credit (LCs) which led to the payments.
Dr. Forson opened his defence and called three witnesses – Henry Myles Mills, an official of Stanbic Bank, Alex Mould and Seth Terkper, former Minister of Finance.
Mr. Terkper, who appeared to be Dr. Forson’s principal witness, told the court that he authorised Dr. Forson to write to the Bank of Ghana authorising the establishment of the letters of credit (LC).
“The letter to the Bank of Ghana requesting the setting up of the LC emanated from the Ministry of Finance and had my full authorisation,” he told the court.
But while under cross-examination by Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, Mr. Terkper admitted that payment for the defective ambulances for which his then deputy is standing trial, was made in error.
Apart from this admission, Mr. Terkper was not able to point to any document specifically authored by him authorising Dr. Forson to write to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) requesting the establishment of the letters of credit which was the means of payment for the ambulances.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak