Ato Forson trial: Our client did not authorise Letters of Credit - Defense to court

The legal team for the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in the ambulance case has told the court he did not issue Letters of Credit or authorise same.

According to them, that particular charge is baseless and should be dismissed.

The lawyers in their legal submissions to the court have argued that the prosecution has failed to adduce sufficient evidence to back this charge.

They have thus asked the court to acquit and discharge the accused.

“We submit that, to the extent that the evidence on record do not support but contradict these material allegations in the particulars of offences for Counts 1 and 5, the prosecution has failed to adduce sufficient evidence on key ingredients of the offences in Counts 1 and 5. Consequently, A1 must be acquitted and discharged.“

"Contrary to the assertions in the particulars of offence of Counts 1 and 5 that A1 ‘authorized’ or ‘caused’ irrevocable letters of credit to be established, it is clear from the evidence on record that A1 never ‘authorized’ or ‘caused irrevocable’ letters of credit to be established nor did A1 act in any manner without due cause and authorization.

“Exhibits A and B1, which bear the signature of A1 were transmitted to the Bank of Ghana under the authority of and on behalf of the Minister of Finance as confirmed by Exhibit 5 for A1....That claim is patently false,” the lawyers argued in their detailed submissions to the court.

They also stated that the prosecution of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson is abuse of prosecutorial powers by the state.

According to them, the state was acting like a Leviathan, who has no regard for the rights and liberties of its citizens.

“We maintain that, in a reasoned decision, a court has a duty to clearly set out the legal principles and the evidence upon the decision is based.

“In addition, an adversarial system like ours, where the role of the court is primarily that of an umpire, places an additional duty on the Court to explain why it prefers one piece of evidence or argument to the other after carefully weighing the evidence relied on by the prosecution and the defence,” excerpts of their legal submission added.

Dr. Forson, who is also the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Esiam, 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.

Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown below:

Meanwhile, catch up on the concluding part of Francis Addai-Nimoh's interview on GhanaWeb TV below:





GA/SARA