Jakpa’s complaint 'baseless' - former A-G Dame tells CID
A former Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has refuted claims by the Director of Special Operations at the National Security, Richard Jakpa, that he fabricated evidence in the now closed US$2million ambulance case.
In a 50-page response to a complaint to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service by Jakpa, Mr Dame said there is no shred of evidence that he acted untoward during the trial.
He described the complaint as “sour grapes, totally baseless and springs only from the fertile imagination of Richard Jakpa.”
“I did not fabricate any evidence led in that criminal trial. I have not been shown any piece of evidence adduced in the matter, either by the prosecution or the defence, which is alleged to be fabricated by me."
“Further, I never attempted to influence the testimony of Richard Jakpa, and indeed, he was not influenced at all when giving evidence in the case in question,” the former A-G said in his statement to the CID.
Complaint
Jakpa, the third accused person in the case, in his petition to the CID, alleged that Mr Dame, who was the A-G during the trial, attempted to persuade him to testify in a particular manner "so as to dishonestly, wickedly and without an iota of conscience implicate Dr. Ato Forson and to also lie to the court by procuring a false excuse duty which constitute a crime (Fabrication of evidence)."
He, therefore, urged the CID to investigate the former A-G as to him, his conduct amounted to the criminal offence of fabrication of evidence.
Ingredient
However, in his response, Mr Dame said the allegations made against him were not sufficient to meet the threshold of the ingredients of the offence of fabrication of evidence.
According to him, he had never sought audience from Jakpa, but rather it was Jakpa who sought his telephone number from his (Jakpa) cousin, Justice Yonny Kulendi, a Justice of the Supreme Court.
“Richard Jakpa himself had, earlier on in 2022, obtained my telephone number from his cousin, Justice Yonny Kulendi and contacted me on many occasions without a positive response from me. This fact was admitted by him in cross-examination.
Again, Mr Dame said at the time he had the conversation with Jakpa, he (Jakpa) had already fired his lawyer, and was representing himself and therefore, he did not know that Jakpa had hired a new lawyer.
“I respectfully submit that the propriety of calling Richard Jakpa directly on telephone is not a matter for criminal investigations. I will produce evidence to show that by the date of the telephone call, I did not know that he had hired a new lawyer. Be that as it may, I insist that the propriety of a prosecutor calling an accused person directly on telephone cannot be the subject matter of criminal investigations,” he said.
Also, he said at the time he had the said conversation with Jakpa, the prosecution had already closed its case, and the trial High Court had also determined a prima facie case against the accused persons.
Case already determined
The former A-G further stated that the CID had no jurisdiction to investigate the complaint by Jakpa as the issues involved had already been determined by the trial High Court.
He quoted portions of the ruling by the High Court on June 6, 2024, dismissing the allegations by Jakpa.
“The instant complaint seeks to relitigate issues already adjudicated upon by the High Court, Accra, in respect of which there is no appeal, a power the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service does not have. It is respectfully submitted that in the light of the clear judicial determination by the High Court, Accra, of the validity of the allegations by Richard Jakpa, the instant complaint is without basis. The matters in issue have become res judicata,” he added.
Read also: Richard Jakpa petitions CID to investigate Godfred Yeboah Dame
