'The righteous will always prevail' – Godfred Dame responds to Jakpa's leaked tape
“The Lord does not delight in the pleasure of the wicked and that even though they’ve laid traps for me, I’ll flee from them. The righteous will always prevail,” the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfed Yeboah Dame has said in a reaction to the applications filed against him at the High Court in Accra.
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This is the first time he is speaking publicly after Richard Jakpa, the businessman standing trial with the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, alleged in court that the Attorney-General has been calling him at odd hours.
Following the allegation which has generated a lot of public discourse, the accused persons, who are alleged to have caused financial loss of €2.37 million to the state in an ambulance deal have filed four motions at the court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe.
The applications are an order of enquiry into the conduct of the Attorney-General following the allegations made by Richard Jakpa to the effect that the A-G has been calling him at odd hours; an order of mistrial with the aim of terminating the case; a stay of proceedings until the application is determined; and a motion asking the court to strike out charges against the businessman.
Three of the applications were filed by the Minority Leader and former Deputy Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson while the last one was filed by the businessman, Mr Richard Jakpa.
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Application
In his three-pronged application, Dr Forson is of the view that the allegations made by Mr Jakpa, which are uncontested reflects a collusion between the prosecution and the businessman adding that it is a calculated agenda to incriminate him and desecrate and pervert the course of justice in the case.
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He averred that the conduct of the A-G shows, what he described as egregious violations of his right to fair trial and seeks to sabotage the ends of justice, praying the court to restrain the A-G from continuing with the prosecution of the case.
“That I believe that the Attorney-General's decision to file the nolle prosequi against a former Chief Director at the Ministry of Health at the time he did and the collusive conduct now revealed by Mr Jakpa are all part of an unwholesome and well-orchestrated scheme or enterprise by the Attorney-General aired solely at securing my conviction in this matter at all costs.
“That the impugned conduct stated above has caused me great apprehension and shaken my faith in the criminal proceedings. I say that this is an appropriate case for the court to order a mistrial or exercise its powers under its inherent jurisdiction to restrain the prosecution from further prosecuting this case or stay proceedings until the serious matters raised in this case against the A-G are inquired into and resolved,” Mr Forson averred.
Jakpa’s motion
In Jakpa’s motion seeking an order striking out the charges and terminating the proceedings, he argues that the charges and proceedings initiated by Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame constitute an abuse of court processes and violate the obligations set in the 1992 Constitution.
He contended that the Attorney-General was misusing his constitutional powers by prosecuting him without justification.
Mr Jakpa also claimed that in private conversations, the Attorney-General admitted that there is no case against him.
A-G’s response
Office of the Attorney General in affidavits in opposition avers that it is in the public interest that the case be brought to a firm conclusion based on the credible evidence before the court.
In the case of Dr Forson, the affidavit in opposition argues that continuing his prosecution to its logical conclusion would uphold the principle of equality of all persons before the law and defeat the perception that the powerful and politically connected can get away with crimes because of undue pressure and false allegations.
Responding to claims by Jakpa, the affidavit in opposition indicates that although he levels many untrue and wild allegations against the Attorney General in his affidavit in support, none of them attacks the integrity of the court or questions any decision or action by the trial court which impedes the capacity of the court to administer justice in this case.