FULL TEXT: Read the six grounds Godfred Dame is appealing Court of Appeal's acquittal of Ato Forson, Jakpa

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame, has acted on his earlier promise of appealing the Court of Appeal’s ruling that acquitted former Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and businessman Richard Jakpa by filing an appeal at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, August 7, 2024.

Per the appeal sighted by GhanaWeb, the Attorney-General is praying the apex court to grant him two reliefs.

Godfred Dame is praying the court to rule “That the decision and consequential order of the Court of Appeal dated 30th July 2024 acquitting and discharging the accused/appellant/respondents be set aside.”

Subsequent to the granting of the first relief is the order from the court “that the accused/appellants/respondents be ordered to continue with their defence at the trial High Court.”

The appeal by the Attorney-General is anchored on six major grounds, with the first one being that “The majority on the Court of Appeal misdirected itself in the application of the fundamental principles regarding the standard of proof required in determining whether a case has been made for the accused persons to answer.”

The Attorney-General also noted in his second ground that the decision by the two judges that the issuance of letters of credit does not constitute payment of monies is erroneous and, in his view, inconsistent with the evidence he adduced.

Godfred Dame also held that the decision arrived at by the majority on the Court of Appeal that the Ministry of Health should be held liable for the unfit nature of the ambulances and not the finance ministry is error-ridden.

“The holding by the majority on the Court of Appeal that the establishment of the letters of credit did not constitute payment under the contract is contrary to the clear evidence in the case and untenable.

“The majority's holding that the Ministry of Health's default caused financial loss to the State (and not the act of the 1st accused in authorising the establishment of the letters of credit) was laden with fundamental errors and occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice,” parts of the appeal read.

Read the full statement below



EK