The Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson, has expressed his gratitude to God after the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which acquitted and discharged him in the ongoing ambulance case.
The Court of Appeal’s decision on Tuesday, July 30, cleared Dr. Forson and his co-accused, Richard Jakpa, from the charges.
In a Facebook update, Dr. Forson thanked God and referenced Romans 9:14: “What, then, shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!”
The Court of Appeal’s ruling overturned the trial court’s earlier directive for Dr. Forson to present his defense.
Previously, on June 6, the High Court in Accra had dismissed Dr. Forson’s request for a mistrial and an investigation into the Attorney General’s actions.
Dr. Forson had submitted a supplementary affidavit on June 3, seeking a mistrial and challenging the proceedings based on a leaked recording. This recording allegedly featured Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame coaching Richard Jakpa to implicate Dr. Forson.
His legal team argued that this alleged misconduct by the Attorney-General justified declaring the prosecution a mistrial.
“It has become necessary to file this affidavit in order to bring to the attention of the Court and in the interest of justice, certain pertinent, material and relevant matters that have a bearing on the fair and just determination of the current application.
“That I say that I have since filing the instant application had the opportunity of listening to a recording widely circulating in the media depicting the voices of the Attorney-General and A3 fervently discussing the evidence the Attorney-General will prefer the said A3 to adduce at the trial. At the hearing of the instant application, my counsel will seek leave of the court to have the said audio recording played in open court.”
The Minority Leader further argued that failure to order a mistrial in such circumstances, where there appears to be a blatant disregard for the rule of law and ethical standards of prosecution by none other than the Attorney-General, could severely undermine public confidence in the judicial process.
The Minority Leader subsequently filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal which has been has been upheld by the Court in a 2:1 majority decision. Businessman Richard Jakpa, the third accused has also been freed by the court.
