A former Central Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwamena Duncan, has said the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, cannot be accused of causing financial loss to the state.

The Attorney General has been heavily criticized for being careless and causing financial loss to the state after he refused to accept plea bargaining in the €2.37 million ambulance case.

A former Deputy Minister for Information under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, in a post shared on X on July 30, 2024, said that from the inception of the trial, Big Sea, the manufacturers of the vehicles, were ready to make a refund of the amount paid for the ambulances to be returned.

However, he said, the Attorney General declined the offer due to his intention of imprisoning an innocent man.

"At the beginning of the trial, Big Sea, the manufacturers of the ambulances, offered to refund the amount paid to them so the ambulances could be returned to them. Dame refused because of a callous desire to imprison an innocent man," Kwakye Ofosu said.

But commenting on the issue on Peace FM, Kwamena Duncan said the Attorney General's accusation is not backed by law and that they are doing so out of ignorance.

"If you look at the criminal and other offences procedure amendment act, 2022, it allows for someone who has been charged or the prosecution not to go through the full trial. The plea bargaining negotiation referred to under Section 162A may be initiated by an accused person, or counsel for the accused person or a prosecutor in charge of the prosecution of an accused person. There can never be any negotiation between a prosecutor and a third party.

"What we heard in this case is that Big Sea wanted to pay some amount of money, but Big Sea is not a party to this criminal prosecution. Under the law, the prosecutor cannot initiate plea bargaining with a third party. There was no way the Attorney General, being the prosecutor in the matter, could have entered into a plea bargaining with a third party when the law is so clear. Sometimes, when you listen to the caliber of people wrongly accusing the Attorney General, you can only forgive because probably they are saying so out of ignorance," Kwamena Duncan stated, according to a video shared by Peace FM on YouTube.

KA/AE

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