Ato Forson begged for ambulance case to be discontinued – AG

The Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice has revealed significant pressure from various parties to discontinue the ambulance purchase trial involving Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson.

Richard Jakpa, the third accused, claimed in open court that Attorney General Godfred Dame repeatedly approached him, seeking his assistance to implicate Dr. Ato Forson.

During cross-examination, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe admonished Jakpa to provide direct answers instead of evading questions and wasting the court’s time.

In response to the judge’s caution, the Attorney-General accused Jakpa of defending the Minority Leader.

This prompted an intense reaction from Jakpa, who alleged that the AG had contacted him multiple times at odd hours to build a case against Dr. Forson.

The AG, in a statement, said that Jakpa had instead requested plea bargaining through a series of letters, which had not been accepted.

“It is rather the third accused who, by various letters dated 27^th April 2023, 16^th May 2023, 30^th May 2023 and 12^th June 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.

“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 Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice stated that the latest allegation is 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

“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 Attorney-General has also come under enormous pressure from all manner of persons for him to discontinue the prosecution of the 1^st accused person, Cassiel Ato Forson, but has not yielded.”

The A-G 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.