Professor of law at the University of Ghana School of Law, Professor Kwabena Appiagyei-Atua, has said the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame Yeboah, cannot take advantage of plea-bargain law to implicate Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in the ongoing ambulance purchase trial.
According to Prof Appiagyei-Atua, there is something odd about the approach of the A-G in seeking to enter into a plea bargain with the third accused, Richard Jakpa.
The third accused person, who was under cross-examination in court on Thursday, made claims that the A-G has been engaging him severally at odd hours to make a case against the first accused, Dr. Ato Forson.
According to TV3’s legal affairs correspondent, Laud Adu-Asare, who was in court, Mr Jakpa was triggered by Godfred Dame’s accusations that he was in court to defend the first accused.
“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 Pandora’s box. I don’t understand why the A-G will accuse me of defending A1 when I’m hethe re to defend myself, ” Jakpa fumed in court.
“If he pushes me, I’ll open Pandora’s box. I have evidence to all this,” a visibly angry Richard Jakpa indicated to the court.
However, the Office of the Attorney-General in a statement after the court proceedings on Thursday, denied the allegations, emphasising that the A-G has not in any way engaged any of the accused persons to prosecute the case.
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Moreover, the statement added that the third accused person initiated a plea bargain through several requests to the Attorney-General, whose proposal has, to date, “not been accepted.”
Speaking on The Key Points on Saturday, May 25, Prof. Appiagyei-Atua said, “Based on what the third accused is saying, there seems to be something which is odd about the whole process because [plea-bargaining] is not supposed to be imposed.”
“It should be at the free will of the parties, one cannot impose on the other and so if it is the attorney-general that is suggesting for a plea bargain, it should come freely from the accused person to accept it and then they negotiate the terms.”
Although Prof. Appiagyei-Atua affirmed that plea bargaining comes in different forms such as getting a lesser sentence for an accused person or making a case stronger against another accused person, it should not be imposed on either party.
“The evidence that the other party can give you say that okay we will give you a lesser punishment if you testify against this person or if you don’t present some other issues it will make the case stronger against any of the other parties involved, but this is not imposed,” he said.
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“According to what is in the news, it is rather the third party [accused] that initiated the plea bargain. If that is the case then there is no way the attorney-general should take advantage of that to ask the third party [accused] to testify against the other party [Ato Forson] by way of imposition,” he told Alfred Ocansey.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has served notice of an imminent full-blown press conference early next week to put out “incontrovertible evidence on this matter that will shock the nation.”
Dr. Ato Forson, Sylvester Anemana and private businessman, Richard Jakpa, are standing trial for willfully causing a 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 state has, however, discontinued the case against Sylvester Amemana.
The case was adjourned to May 28, 2024, for continuation of Richard Japka’s cross-examination
Source:
3news.com
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