Ambulance case: I never questioned Ato Forson on allegations – EOCO Investigator

The Investigator in the case in which the current Minority Leader and former Deputy Minister for Finance Dr Cassiel Ato Forson is standing trial for allegedly causing financial loss to the state has told the High Court in Accra that he never questioned Ato Forson on allegations he received.

Rockson Gyimah, then with the Economic and Organised Crime Office who carried out the investigation on the matter said, the only time he met Ato Forson was when he took the charge statement of him.

Dr. Forson, who is also the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Esiam, and the ranking member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, has been charged with Sylvester Anemana, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health and Richard Jakpa, a businessman, for allegedly causing financial loss of €2.37 million to the state in a deal to purchase some 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.

Under Cross-Examination from Lawyer Edudzie Tamakloe counsel for Ato Forson on Thursday, February 9, after his witness statement was adopted, the witness told the court that, “the only time I met the first accused was the time I was taking the charge statement.”

The Investigator currently with the Office of the Special Prosecutor for the past six months added that “The charge statement was an opportunity for the first accused to speak to the allegations before him.”

This was in response to a question from counsel for Ato Forson, Edudzie Tamakloe that from November 2017 till November 2021, when he took the charge statement from Ato Forson, he never called the first accused to appear before him for the purpose of putting these allegations contained in his witness statement before the court.

The witness who told the court that he has been with the OSP for the past six months is the fourth and last witness the state is calling in that matter.

Though the witness said in the course of his investigation, an ordinary statement was taken from the first accused, he said they “were a team,” that took it.

When counsel again asked the witness if he was there when the first accused was invited to EOCO in the company of his lawyers, the witness said he was not there rather “I was engaged somewhere that day.”

When counsel again put it to him that the first accused went to EOCO in the company of his lawyers and was interrogated by Deputy director Nana Antwi, the witness said “I was engaged somewhere.”

The witness said he wouldn’t know that when the first accused went to EOCO the statement form was given to him to go home and write his statement and return it to the office.

The Witness again told the court that from the day the first accused returned the statement to his office he “personally never spoke to him until the day he took his caution statement.”

At this point, counsel put it to him that he was “never part of any panel that even asked for his opinion on the material allegations you made in your witness statement,” the witness said “I took the charge statement personally.”

Again when it was put to him that he was never part of any panel that interrogated the first accused, the Witness said, “I was part of the panel which took charge statement from him.”

The witness told the court that the charge statement was taken in 2021 while that of the ordinary statement was taken in November 2017.

Controller & Accountant General

Asked by counsel if in the course of his investigation “there any time that he invited the former Controller and Accountant General (CAG) under whose tenure the Letter of Credit (LC) was established.

The witness in his response said, “My Lady, the team wrote to Controller to invite the schedule officer who worked on this particular LC.

But added that “ the information from the controller was that the schedule officer was on pension.”

When counsel put it to him that throughout his investigation there was a time that a statement or opinion of the then controller and accountant general was taken, the witness said “No.” But added that, “a statement was not taken.”

When it was again put to him that in the face of his statement before the court that no statement was taken from the then Controller and Accountant General if he does stand by what he had stated in witness statement, the witness explained.

“My Lady, these were documentary evidence we obtained as part of the investigation.”

Asked if at the time he was testifying whether he had seen the said letter CAG wrote to the BoG requesting for the establishment of the irrevocable LC, he said “yes” pointing to his Exhibit B.

“The letter from the deputy CAG made reference to the letter written by the Finance Ministry dated 7/7/2014. As part of investigations it was revealed that without the authorization of the Ministry of Finance, Controller on its own cannot write to the Bank of Ghana to establish an LC,” the witness stated.

When it was put to him that on the face of Exhibit B, nowhere did the deputy controller Andrew Kufe say he was authorizing Bank of Ghana on the authority of the first accused.

In his response, the witness said, “As I have answered earlier the letter from the deputy controller made a reference to the letter written by the Ministry of Finance which was signed by A1.”

The witness agreed with counsel that the letter on the face of it did not name the first accused, but said, “the letter made reference to a letter authored by the first accused.”

Though the witness admitted that all the officers were copied except the first accused, he said “the letter was authored by the former Deputy Minister of Finance.”

The Financial and Economic Court 2 of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court judge has adjourned the case to Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

The Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame led the team of State Prosecutors to lead the witness to give his evidence in chief prior to the Cross Examination.

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