Kwaku Ansa-Asare, a former Director of the Ghana School of Law, has insisted that the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, committed a crime in his handling of the trial of the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, whom the state has accused of causing financial loss in the purchase of 200 ambulances when he was a Deputy Minister of Finance.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews' Newsfile programme on June 8, 2024, Ansa-Asare said that even though the court dismissed a mistrial application against the Attorney General, the things he said in the leaked phone call with the third accused in the trial, businessman Richard Jakpa, are against the constitution of Ghana.

He insisted that the Attorney General must be punished for his actions because they amount to contempt of court.

"In a private conversation between the two of them, we hear Richard Jakpa ask the Attorney General: 'You want me to do your bidding – how I go about answering questions, my brother?' This amounts to coaching, and it is a serious offence under our law.

"It amounts to contempt of the court. It amounts to obstruction of justice, which is also a criminal offence under our law. Under the constitution, any such offences amount to contempt of court, for which the Attorney General can be attached," he said.

The legal luminary urged the accused persons in the trial, Dr. Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa, to file any application to include the Attorney General in the ongoing trial.

"I'm surprised that the defence has, up to now, not brought an application to attach the body or person of the Attorney General. Let him face the wrath of the law; what he has done is contempt of court, pure and simple," he added.

He pointed out that in other legal jurisdictions, the judge hearing the case would have punished Dame without any application being filed against him.

"And he must be made to suffer for it. If we were operating in a different system, the judge would have cited the Attorney General for obstructing justice in the court, which itself also amounts to contempt of court. We have what we call in law 'contempt ex parte curiae'. That is contempt committed before the court. So, the Attorney General has tampered with a witness. And in criminal jurisprudence, we also have what is known as witness tampering," he explained.

TWI NEWS

Background:

The High Court in Accra dismissed an application by Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson, seeking a mistrial and an investigation into the conduct of the Attorney General in the ongoing ambulance case.

The trial judge ruled that Forson had not demonstrated any statutory provisions that would justify a mistrial or an inquiry into the Attorney General's actions.

On Monday, June 3, 2024, Dr. Ato Forson filed a supplementary affidavit supporting his motion for a mistrial, injunction, and/or stay of proceedings in the ambulance case against him and two others.

The Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam legislator's legal team cited a leaked tape between Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame and the third accused, Richard Jakpa. The tape allegedly revealed Dame attempting to coach Jakpa to implicate Dr. Ato Forson in the trial.

In their affidavit, Forson's lawyers argued that the Attorney General had misconducted himself and called for the prosecution to be declared a mistrial.

The judge, however, in her ruling, advised the Attorney General to recuse himself from the case.

Godfred Dame, after the proceeding, indicated that the court had vindicated him.

While singing a hymn, the AG said that so many traps have been set for him, but he will escape all of them.

BAI/AE

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