Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Office of the Attorney General has introduced a document which seeks to show that embattled businessman, Richard Jakpa, has sent WhatsApp messages to the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, on 68 different occasions but Mr. Dame only responded to two of those messages.
The document contains all the times that the businessman contacted Mr. Dame on the messaging app, starting from the first time he got the number and introduced himself as cousin to Supreme Court Judge, Justice Yonny Kulendi.
Mr. Jakpa, while under cross-examination by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa yesterday, confirmed that the copy of his WhatsApp conversation with Mr. Dame which was earlier tendered in evidence by counsel for Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, does not capture the entirety of the conversation.
“I presented the relevant portions of the conversation that will make my case. The WhatsApp conversation was between the Attorney General and me and he is at liberty to bring the other portion if he feels it will discredit what I have put here. But to me they were not relevant,” the accused said under cross-examination.
He has confirmed being the one who introduced himself to the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, as a cousin to a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Yonny Kulendi.
According to him, he took Mr. Dame’s contact to introduce himself to him, indicating that “I took his number from my cousin Justice Yonny Kulendi and sent him a message on WhatsApp, and since he didn’t have my number, I needed to introduce myself for him to know where I got his number from. That is why that introduction.”
The document is yet to be tendered in evidence because the defence team was served while the proceeding was ongoing yesterday.
Counsel for Jakpa, Thaddeus Sory, as well as Dr. Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba, counsel for Ato Forson both told the court that they would need time to examine the documents although Jakpa had indicated that he was OK with the court admitting it.
Another thing that came up during the cross-examination was that Mr. Jakpa was dismissed from the Ghana Armed Forces in 2007 for what the prosecution said was for him failing his examinations on five separate occasions, insubordination, misconduct and defiance.
He, however, debunked the assertion, claiming that he was victimised by the hierarchy of the military at the time, which was why he was released for services no longer needed.
Trial
Richard Jakpa and Ato Forson 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 are not fit for purpose as they do not have the needed equipment that an ambulance requires.
Introduction To AG
Mr. Jakpa while under cross-examination indicated that prior to the prosecution filing the charge sheet on December 23, 2021, he had never had any conversations with Mr. Dame although he had seen him at the home of his cousin, Justice Kulendi from the days when he was the Deputy Attorney General.
When it was put to him that Mr. Dame did not know that he was the cousin of Justice Yonny Kulendi as at the time the charge sheet was filed, Mr. Jakpa responded that “I cannot confirm that because I’m not in his mind. I met him in my cousin’s house and whether he knew I was cousin of Yonny Kulendi, I don’t know that.”
He also confirmed sending a message to Mr. Dame introducing himself as cousin to Justice Kulendi and also admitted that, that introductory message was not part of the conversation that was tendered in court by the defence.
“It is true I sent him a message introducing myself but that is not here. I admit that I sent a WhatsApp message introducing myself,” he said.
When Mrs. Obuobisa introduced the issue of the accused texting the AG 68 times and the AG only responded on two occasions, Jakpa told the court he couldn’t remember the number of WhatsApp messages sent off head.
Military Dismissal
The DPP, Mrs. Obuobisa put it to Jakpa who was commissioned in the Armed Forces in 1998 that got dismissed in 2007 for misconduct, insubordination and failure to pass the required promotional examinations on five separate times within seven years – 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
The accused denied it and claimed he was victimised by the senior officers of the Armed Forces because they were envious of his exceptional performance as a soldier.
He said even when he was transferred to Accra from Sunyani, the senior officers became hostile towards him because they felt he was an informant for the late President Jerry John Rawlings to spy on them.
He also told the court that apart from being victimised, he was not wanted in the military, and the military in order to get him out of the Armed Forces, constituted a psychological board “in order to declare me insane and release me out of the Armed Forces as someone who is insane.”
“…As I said, I was being victimised. I have given the history as to why the military hierarchy at the time did that. They always make sure you fail two papers so that you have to rewrite,” the accused claimed.
Jakpa also suggested that the senior officers were hostile towards him because his father was one of the people who released Mr. Rawlings from jail for the June 4 uprising.
Judge’s Admonitions
The presiding judge, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, has observed that Jakpa was not answering the question in the manner that he should be.
Both the court and the prosecution had expressed concern about his approach to answering questions, with the court observing that on one occasion, his answer to one question took more than three pages of yesterday’s proceedings.
The judge has, therefore, advised Jakpa to provide Yes or No to questions and then offer short explanations not more than two sentences to questions when necessary.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak