Mr. George Ofori, a Principal state prosecutor in the Attorney General’s (AG’s) office, was last week caught on tape demanding bribe from the relatives of a suspected armed robber to scheme ways and means for him to be let loose on the citizenry.

Long before his being taped, Mr. George Ofori’s activities had been on the raider of The Herald, following reports from police officers who have seen him mess up some of the criminal cases.

The observation identified the poker-face diminutive George belongs to a gang of state prosecutors at the AG’s office, who extort huge sums of money from suspected criminals, especially cocaine suspects, and pave the way for them to escape justice.

They, among other things, trade information on high-profile cases to the suspect who would pay any amount to escape jail. A member of the gang is believed to have smuggled out a charge sheet involving the case on the EO group, which was latter discovered on the internet, even before the case could be filed.

Their modus operandi is to collaborate with the defense counsel of the suspected criminals by feeding them with the kind of information that will weaken the prosecutor’s evidence and charges, leading to the judges not having enough grounds to convict the suspects.

Another way to help suspects to escape from justice is to simply refrain from attending court proceedings, so that the judge, after repeatedly adjourning the case, decides to free the suspect on the grounds of lack of prosecution.

Cases of armed robbery, murder and dealing in cocaine are those that provide these state attorneys the opportunity to make money by clandestinely assisting the suspects to walk away from the arms of justice.

The Herald’s trails on George, since 2009, saw him handling two high profile cases of murder and theft that left much to be desired.

The first is the gruesome murder of Rosemary Owusu Ansah in her daughter’s residence at McCarthy Hill, Accra, in October 2007.

The state prosecutor handled leads in a manner that Kofi Isaac, the only suspect in the murder case, was released on the basis that the AG’s office was not interested in prosecuting him. Solid leads were not followed although there was overwhelming evidence to nail the suspected killers.

Another case is the one involving of Ms. Patience Abaloo alias Patience Boateng of DD Lodge, a hotel at Dzorwulu, off the Motorway Extension in Accra, who robbed a retired army general of the US, General James D. Kellim, of his $50, 000.

Police sources said that Mr. Ofori, for some unexplained reason, was not going to court. This prompted the judge sitting on the case to free Ms Abaloo for want of prosecution.

The ex-General of United States Air Force, who narrowly escaped a blackmail attempt involving the Director of Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS), ACP Timothy Ashiley, and some “Ashawo Girls” (prostitutes), later died at the Nyaho Hospital in Accra.

General. Kellim was back in Ghana fighting to get back the $50,000 stolen from his accounts by Ms Abalo who is the manageress of DD Lodge, but met his untimely death.

According to police sources, the Vietnam War veteran and ex-Commander of many US Air Force units, was rushed to the Nyaho Hospital in the early hours of last Wednesday, after he was found in a state of unconsciousness in his hotel room in Accra.

The hospital authorities managed to revive him, but he died the next day when his condition became worse. He was flown to the US for burial by his son who is a pilot.

The late General appeared before court on many occasions to give evidence on how Ms Ababio used his TMA visa cards to withdraw the huge sum from his bank accounts, after seeing him enter the secret pin numbers to the cards.

Mr. Ofori is a retired police officer who joined the AG’s office after attending the Ghana School of Law. He is assisting the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) with the investigation.

A voice which sounded like that of the state attorney’s was recorded by the brother of the alleged robber during four different conversations with the said person who wants to remain anonymous.

According to the brother of the suspect, Richard Banahene Quaye, the case has been reported to the BNI and the state attorney was arrested after the Attorney General was informed about the matter.

The state attorney, who has successfully prosecuted high-profile cases in narcotics and armed robbery, was heard demanding more than GH¢4,000 from the brother of the suspect who said that even though he knew his brother was innocent, he was willing to pay the money in order for him to be set free.

The case is being handled by Justice Charles Quist and Quaye is standing trial with four others-¬¬ Ayitey Sackey, Yintima Saman, Ahmed Tijani alias Charles Taylor and Kwabena Otchere-for allegedly robbing a man called Raymond Aidoo at Adenta Housing Down on February 28, 2008.

A male voice on the tape was heard expressing displeasure about an amount of GH¢3,500 given to his house-help to be given to him. The speaker said that the amount was too small because he would have to share it with some other persons to influence the outcome of the case in favour of the suspect, Quaye. More to come!