The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused former President John Dramani Mahama of attempting to influence Attorney General and Minister of Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame in Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s ongoing ambulance trial.
The party is alleging that the former president and presidential candidate of the umbrella family attempted to influence Mr. Dame to drop the charges against the Minority Leader.
Director of Legal for the NPP, Mr. Frank Davies, alleged at a press conference on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, that Mr. Mahama asked him to drop the charges if the government wanted the full cooperation of the Minority Caucus in Parliament.
The private legal practitioner stated that since the case started, the NDC has threatened to unleash rain and storm against the government, the Attorney-General, and any person they can find to cajole the Attorney-General from discontinuing the prosecution.
Pressure has come from every angle including former President Mahama, the Leadership of the Minority in Parliament, clergy, business friends of Ato Forson etc.”
He continued “Indeed,Former President Mahama specifically maintained the discontinuance of the Ambulance Trial as a condition to get Members of the minority in Parliament to agree to the recent recall of Parliament and has on several other occasions, stated it as a condition for the cooperation of the Minority in Parliament.
This pressure stems from some warped and baseless logic of the NDC that the Ato Forson’s prosecution is politically motivated and its Leader in Parliament, should be immune from prosecution even when the facts indicate conduct resulting in financial loss to the state. As mentioned earlier, investigations commenced as far back as 2017 making it imperative to ask, “Why is Ato Forson the only government official being prosecuted from all the former NDC Ministers from whom statements were taken?”.
He noted that the ongoing prosecution is based on the various documentation available from the participating agencies in the transaction and this is evidenced by the Court’s ruling upholding that a case has been made by the Attorney General that warrants an answer from the defence.
It is also worth noting, that prosecution of Cassiel Ato Forson commenced even before he became Minority Leader making worthless and nonsensical the suggestion that he is being prosecuted because he is minority leader of the NDC.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Davies has shot down the call for the resignation of Godfred Yeboah Dame describing it as unwarranted.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, if it is the firm belief of the NDC and Ato Forson that no loss had occasioned the state from his conduct, then they should remain faithful to our judicial system and cease these malicious orchestrations targeted at bastardising our judicial system prevent him from standing trial to conclusion.
We are clear in our minds that the calls for the resignation of the Attorney General is misplaced, unwarranted and this would not put any spokes in the prosecution of Cassiel Ato Forson and his associates.
Also, coming from the NDC the call for the Attorney General to resign is very very rich.
The AG would not resign and would continue to remain witty, resolute and focused in the delivery of his work.
The wheels of justice they say grinds slowly but eventually, it grinds to a halt.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
