Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Office of the Attorney-General has categorically denied claims by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, is persecuting Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, in the ongoing ‘defective’ ambulances case.
According to a statement signed by the Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, the state has throughout the trial relied solely on the record of the impugned transaction – the purchase of ordinary vans purporting to be ambulances, to sustain its case against the accused persons.
The statement indicates that the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice considers the latest allegation levelled against the Attorney-General as part of a grand scheme by the NDC to put more pressure on him to discontinue the prosecution of the MP.
The statement was in response to an earlier press release by the NDC which accused the Attorney-General of approaching Richard Jakpa, a businessman who is charged along side Dr. Forson for causing financial loss to the state, impressing on him to skew his testimony and implicate the Minority Leader.
The NDC’s statement signed by its National Chairman, Asiedu Nketia, claimed that the alleged ‘revelation’ goes to confirm legitimate and long-held suspicion of the devious modus operandi of Godfred Yeboah Dame and the government he represents.
“It further shows the desperate lengths the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government will go to manipulate judicial processes to unjustly victimise political opponents for cheap political goal-scoring,” he added.
AG Fires Back
But the Office of the Attorney-General in a press statement denied the allegations and indicated that the Republic has never required or desired the cooperation of any of the accused persons in the matter, in which it has already succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against all the accused persons.
It said neither the Attorney-General nor any officer from the Office of the Attorney-General has approached any of the accused persons with the view to obtaining evidence from them.
“It is rather the third accused (Richard Jakpa) who, by various letters dated April 27, 2023, May 16, 2023, May 30, 2023 and June 12, 2023, has proposed to the Republic through the Attorney-General to engage in plea bargaining or plea negotiations. This plea bargaining proposal has, to date, not been accepted by the Attorney-General,” the statement indicated.
It continued that although the law on plea bargaining passed by Parliament permits a prosecutor to negotiate with an accused person after a plea proposal has been made, the Attorney-General has not engaged the third accused person to give false testimony in the matter.
Pressure On AG
Tuesday’s statement points out that the Attorney-General has also come under enormous pressure from all manner of persons for him to discontinue the prosecution of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson but has not yielded.
“The Attorney-General has video evidence of the first accused, person, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, coming to meet him and to plead with him to discontinue the prosecution. This, the Attorney-General has refused to do,” the statement disclosed.
It adds that the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice “considers the latest allegation levelled against the Attorney-General as part of a grand scheme by the NDC to put more pressure on him to discontinue the prosecution or to divert attention from the real issues regarding the actions of the accused persons which have caused enormous financial loss to the State.”
The statement urged the public to disregard the allegations adding that the Attorney-General remains focused on a zealous prosecution of the case.
Trial
Dr. 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.
The ambulances, according to court documents, are ordinary buses which were not fit for purpose as they did 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.
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.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak