Attorney-General(AG) and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has requested the High Court in Accra to dismiss an application submitted by Mr. Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the ambulance procurement trial.
Jakpa’s application seeks to have the charges against him struck out and the proceedings terminated.
Jakpa is also requesting that the court stay proceedings or declare a mistrial.
However, the Attorney-General, in an opposing affidavit filed by a Principal State Attorney, argues that the applicant has not provided sufficient grounds to justify the application.
According to the Attorney-General, the application is not recognized by criminal procedure and practice in Ghana.
“That the instant application is a ruse and a desperate smokescreen set up by the applicant to abort his legitimate prosecution for the role he played in causing colossal financial loss to the State in the purchase of ordinary vans purporting to be ambulances.”
Godfred-Yeboah Dame argues that the application is anchored on untruths and a skillful manipulation of facts, and seeks to clothe Jakpa with immunity from prosecution.
The application, he says, is “incompetent and offensive to Ghanaian law.
“That I respectfully say that all persons are equal before the law and the Attorney-General’s constitutional responsibility to prosecute all crimes within the Republic cannot be injuncted in respect of some particular persons or any group of persons in Ghana.
“That the instant application is an extension of the public theatrics the accused persons have resorted to in a bid to discredit the prosecution of this case and cast doubt about the integrity of the proceedings in this Honourable Court, all of which the Attorney-General has so far observed utmost professionalism about, in spite of the persistent insults and abuse to his integrity by persons associated with the accused persons.”