The Attorney General’s office has denied allegations made by one of the accused persons in the trial of Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson. According to the Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Attuah Yeboah, allegations leveled against the Attorney General, Godfred Dame is as part of a grand scheme by the NDC to put more pressure on him to discontinue the prosecution or divert attention from the real issues.
In a statement released this evening, the office asserted that Attorney General Godfred Dame has not coerced Richard Jakpa, the third accused person, into fabricating evidence to incriminate the NDC MP.
The denial follows claims by Richard Jakpa, involved in the ambulance purchase trial, that the Attorney General had approached him to help build a case against Dr. Forson, the former Deputy Finance Minister.
“The A-G has on several occasions engaged me at odd hours to help him make a case against A1 and I have evidence for that. If he pushes me, I will open the Pandora’s box. I don’t understand why the A-G will accuse me of defending A1 when I’m here to defend myself,” Jakpa stated in court on Thursday, May 23.
The NDC expressed concern, viewing this as a persecution of Dr. Forson, who has been a vocal critic of the current government’s policies.
The Attorney General’s office, however, insisted, “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.”
“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,” the statement continued. Signed by Deputy Attorney-General Alfred Tuah Yeboah, the statement pointed out that Mr. Jakpa, on multiple occasions, proposed to engage in plea bargaining or plea negotiations through various letters to the Attorney-General. This proposal has not been accepted.
“Even though 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,” the statement added. It also noted that the Attorney-General has faced significant pressure to discontinue the prosecution of Dr. Forson but has not yielded.
In an earlier press release, NDC Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah stated that the incident confirms the “legitimate and long-held suspicion of the devious modus operandi of Godfred Dame and the government he represents.” The NDC described the situation as a clear case of persecution against Dr. Forson, who has been a leader in opposing the current administration’s policies.
“The NDC is deeply scandalised by this clear case of persecution against the Leader of the party’s Caucus in Parliament who has been at the forefront of our struggle against the misrule of the oppressive and despotic Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP regime,” the statement said. It criticized the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration, accusing it of lacking integrity and manipulating judicial processes to victimize political opponents.
The party announced its intention to hold a press conference to present evidence supporting its claims.
Below is the full statement by the Attorney General’s office:
