Godfred Yeboah Dame
About one hundred lawyers accompanied former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service headquarters yesterday, in response to a petition filed by Director of Operations at the National Security Secretariat, Richard Jakpa, alleging the former fabricated evidence in the ambulance trial.
This massive show of support is testament to Mr. Dame’s standing in the legal fraternity as one of the finest lawyers in the country.
Some have described the petition filed by Jakpa as coming from a place of anger, desperation and resentment, and fueled by a passion to see the former Attorney General ‘punished’ for his refusal to terminate his trial.
Not many can disagree with this position, as Jakpa himself is on record to have said, in no other place but a court of law that he has declared “war” on Dame.
“…And I’m also going to use my underworld skills to pay him and deal with him. I said use what you know best in your law and I’ll also use what I know best on the street, and we will see who will survive,” Jakpa told a High Court on June 20, 2024 during the trial.
Complete Denial
A source very close to the ongoing investigation has told DAILY GUIDE on condition of anonymity that Mr. Dame vehemently denied the allegation that he fabricated evidence in the trial, describing the complaint as “baseless, sour grapes, and a desperate ploy to obstruct justice.”
According to our source, the former Attorney General refuted Jakpa’s accusations of fabrication of evidence in the ambulance trial which involved Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Dr. Sylvester Anemana, and Richard Jakpa, arguing that none of the ingredients of the offence have been made out in the charge against him.
Mr. Dame is said to have backed his position with the fact that he has not been shown any piece of evidence adduced in the matter, either by the prosecution or the defence, which is alleged to be fabricated by him.
He maintained that he “never attempted to influence the testimony of Richard Jakpa, and indeed, he was not influenced at all when giving evidence in the case in question.”
Our source further pointed out that the former Attorney General took his time to explain to the police, the legal definition of the alleged offence, stating that the offence of fabrication of evidence entails causing a circumstance to exist, making a false entry in a book, record, account or forging a document adduced as evidence at the trial, with intent to mislead a judge, juror or public officer acting in a judicial capacity.
He therefore maintained that “No act of mine borders on the doing of anything that will constitute fabrication of evidence.”
Inaccurate Record
The source also indicated that Mr. Dame drew the investigators’ attention to the fact that the so-called evidence relied upon by Jakpa in his petition is based on a secret recording of a telephone conversation between the two of them on April 9, 2024, not March 26, 2024, as claimed by the petition.
“I am unable to respond to an allegation based on an alleged conversation on March 26, 2024 since no conversation took place between us on that day,” Mr. Dame is quoted to have told the police.
He also clarified that he called Jakpa merely to discuss the possibility of adjourning proceedings for that day since he had to finish up preparations for an international arbitration hearing in London.
Court Decision
Again, the source indicated that Mr. Dame drew the attention of the police to the fact that the trial court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, had already ruled on the matter, holding that after listening to the tape which was tendered in evidence, there was no evidence of an attempt on the part of Mr. Dame to fabricate evidence.
The source stated that Mr. Dame argued that the CID lacked the jurisdiction to reinvestigate matters already determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, emphasising, “The instant complaint seeks to relitigate issues already adjudicated upon by the High Court, Accra, in respect of which there is no appeal. The matters in issue have become res judicata.”
Justice Kulendi Factor
Our source further disclosed that the former Attorney General emphatically told the police that he never met Jakpa anywhere else other than the courtroom and the home of Supreme Court judge, Justice Yonny Kulendi, who is Jakpa’s cousin.
He is said to have described Justice Kulendi as “a respected senior colleague for many years even before he was appointed to the Supreme Court.”
He insisted that there would have been no ‘Dame–Jakpa’ without Justice Kulendi, emphasising that his visits to the judge’s residence were out of respect.
“It is inconceivable for a lawyer, more so the Attorney General, to refuse invitations by a Justice of the Supreme Court to visit or to decline to give him audience when requested,” Mr. Dame is quoted as telling the police.
However, he maintained that he “did not reasonably think that honouring invitations to his residence would entail any danger or prejudice” and that he “maintained independence of thought on all issues discussed in Justice Kulendi’s house, including matters related to Richard Jakpa’s prosecution.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak