Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine has said government is not compelling him to discontinue cases against state officials as perceived.
Dr. Ayine noted that he takes full responsibility for the cases that he has discontinued since assuming office as an Attorney-General.
He urged persons tagging President Mahama as a ‘clearing agent’ to “hasten slowly” as the President has no powers to prosecute.
According to him, government is not also exerting pressure on him to bring charges against anybody.
“As Attorney-General, I take absolute responsibility for all the decisions so far taken. I’m not under any instructions or pressure to discontinue any case or bring charges against anyone. Those who are in a haste to tag his Excellency the President Mahama as a clearing agent should hasten slowly because he is not responsible for prosecution and has not directed me to drop any case,” Dr. Ayine noted at a press conference on Wednesday, February 12, 2025.
Charges were defective; evidences fell short for convictions – A-G justifies case withdrawals
His statement comes at the back of criticisms following his decision to discontinue some seven high-profile cases which the former Attorney-General under the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration was prosecuting.
Providing reasons for the discontinuation of the cases on Wednesday, the A-G explained that the charges against these accused persons in the cases were defective and by professional and ethical standards, there were no valid reasons to continue with the cases.
Dr. Ayine added that evidences adduced in these cases fell significantly short of what was required to convict the accused persons.
“In the case of the Republic vrs Ato Forson I was not counsel on record but my colleague Eduzdzi Tamakloe was counsel on record …I believe then and I believe now that the honourable Ato Forson was a victim of political witch hunt.
“…no new evidence has been provided to me since I assumed office as Attorney-General to cause me to abandon my professional convictions,” he stated.
“The second reason why I dropped some of the charges on the above case is that the charges were defective and upon careful scrutiny, they were filed against the prompting of plain common sense,” Dr. Ayine remarked.
Source:
3news.com
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