The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, suggested that Richard Jakpa’s reason for requesting a private meeting with the Attorney-General via WhatsApp was to dissuade him from prosecuting him.
This issue became central during Jakpa’s cross-examination by the DPP at the High Court on Thursday, June 20.
In the proceedings, the DPP queried Jakpa, who is standing trial alongside Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, about his intentions behind seeking a private discussion with the Attorney-General.
“That was the main reason, from what you have told this court, why you wanted to have a private discussion with him,” she said.
In response, Mr Jakpa refuted this claim, asserting that his sole aim was to clarify his innocence to the Attorney-General.
The businessman further explained to the packed courtroom overseen by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe that he had sought the meeting to urge the Attorney-General to refrain from using discretionary powers in what he considered an arbitrary and unjust manner against innocent Ghanaians.
He stressed that his intention was not to avoid prosecution but to address what he perceived as unfair treatment.
“Because deep within me and with the knowledge of the ambulance project, I was 100 per cent convinced that I was innocent and Dr Cassiel Ato Forson was innocent and the only person that had a case to answer if there was any financial loss at all was Dr Sylvester Anemana, so I saw it as a responsibility to request the meeting to put the case and the facts before him and appeal to his conscience to do what is right,” he said.