By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, June 3, GNA – The Attorney-General has opposed to an application for an order striking out the charges and terminating the proceedings or alternatively staying proceedings against Mr Richard Jakpa, an accused person in the trial of Dr Ato Forson and one another.
The AG described the application as an abuse of process and unmeritorious.
In an affidavit in opposition, the AG said no proper grounds had been canvassed by the applicant to warrant a grant of that application, which was unknown to criminal procedure and practice in Ghana.
“…That the instant application is a rush and a desperate smoke screen by the applicant to abort his legitimate prosecution for the role he played in causing financial loss to the State in the purchase of ordinary vans purporting to be ambulances,” the AG said.
The AG said the application, anchored on “untruths and a skillful manipulation of facts”, sought to cloth the applicant with immunity from prosecution and to that extent, “incompetent and offensive to Ghanaian law”.
He said the instant application was an extension of the public theatrics the accused persons had resorted to in a bid to discredit the prosecution of the case and cast doubt about the integrity of the proceedings in the Court, all of which the Attorney-General had so far observed utmost professionalism about, in spite of the persistent insults and abuse to his integrity by persons associated with the accused persons.
The AG said the prosecution of the accused persons in the case was based on cogent evidence unearthed after painstaking investigations conducted.
“Credible witnesses called by the prosecution have already been cross-examined by counsel for the applicant and the other accused persons, after which the Court held that a prima facie case had been duly made against all the accused persons,” it said.
The prosecution said in fairness to the accused persons, the Attorney-General duly filed all the evidence he intended to rely on at the trial and furnished all parties to that action with copies of all documents, including even the ones he did not rely on.
“In fact, most of the documents tendered by the accused persons at the trial came from the prosecution.”
The AG said the depositions in the affidavit in support of the instant application were loaded with spurious allegations, which were carefully and mischievously calculated at creating unnecessary anxiety about the capacity of the court to dispense justice in the case.
He said though the applicant had levelled many “untrue and wild” allegations against the Attorney-General in his affidavit in support, none of them attacked the integrity of the Court or questions any decision or action by the trial court, which impeded the capacity of the Court to administer justice in the case.
It said the application was “frivolous, vexatious and a complete waste of the Court’s time”.
GNA