Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu says the decision to dismiss the mistrial application by Ato Forson was rushed and contravened the natural law of justice.
The social commentator claims the judge’s refusal to listen to the defence lawyers’ arguments before making a ruling was a clear perversion of justice.
“There was a great travesty of justice. The judge did an injustice to the applicants. I don’t know where she was rushing to. The judge should have given the lawyers the opportunity to argue their application,” Mr. Kpebu said.
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The lawyer advised the applicant, Ato Forson to seek redress in the future in a different medium.
“Hear the lawyers of the accused persons, that was not done, it was a huge blow to the ruling, the ruling was not rich enough. I hope going forward perhaps [the applicants] will get justice from another forum,” he said.
BACKGROUND
On June 6, 2024, a High Court judge, Justice Aria Serwah Asare-Botwe overseeing the ambulance trial involving Minority leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, dismissed all applications sought by the MP and third accused Richard Jakpa for a mistrial and those into allegations of misconduct by Attorney-General Godfred Dame.
The judge in her ruling said the audio tape presented by the third accused did not reveal any instruction from Godfred Dame for Mr. Jakpa to implicate Ato Forson.
“Having listened to the conversation between [Richard Jakpa] and A-G, the allegation that A-G sought assistance to implicate [Ato Forson] was not borne out of the mouth of the A-G but [Richard Jakpa],” Justice Asare-Botwe said.
Justice Aria Serwah Asare-Botwe advised the Attorney-General (AG), Godfred Yeboah Dame to recuse himself from the ongoing ambulance purchase case deal case after dismissing the application for mistrial.
The judge explained that this approach protects the judicial process and builds public trust by ensuring cases are heard in the courtroom, rather than creating the impression that they can be held anywhere else.
“It is my considered view that it will be prudent to strongly advise the A-G not to be directly involved in the conduct of this case. This is one way of ensuring that the judicial process is protected and to gain public confidence to not give a perception that cases can be held any other place except the courtroom,” she said.
The applications had been on the back of a tape recording allegedly implicating the AG for witness tampering and misconduct.
The judge also rejected the call for an enquiry into the witness tampering allegations, saying it lacked legal backing, but instead advised Dr, Forson to seek redress from the General Legal Council, the body that regulates the legal profession in Ghana.
Ato Forson (a former deputy finance minister) and Richard Jakpa are being prosecuted for causing a €2.37 million financial loss to the state over the importation of 200 defective ambulances in 2012.
