How Ato Forson's comments on E-Levy landed him in ambulance trial - Edudzi Tameklo narrates

Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, a member of the legal team of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has provided the background story of how his client became entangled in the ambulance scandal.

Speaking on Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana program on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, Edudzi Tameklo revealed that the case commenced in November 2017 when Ato Forson, who is the former Deputy Minister of Finance, was invited by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to answer some questions following a complaint by the Ministry of Health.

Per Edudzi Tameklo’s version of events, the meeting was a brief one as Ato Forson managed to explain to the team of investigators from EOCO his role in the purchase of ambulances by the health ministry under the Mahama government.

“I recall vividly that with my senior, Dominic Ayine, we had to take Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson to the UK somewhere in November 2017 when then-Speaker Mike Oquaye brought to our attention that EOCO had written to him, inviting the honorable MP.

“When we got to EOCO, we met the investigators led by the Deputy Executive Director, Nana Antwi. In his office, he said that the matter was brought to them by the Ministry of Health led by Kwaku Agyemang Manu and Ato Forson was a person of interest.

“Ato Forson gave the indication that beyond the fact of requesting for the LC and writing that the bank charges associated with the LC be charged against the Ministry of Health’s budgetary allocation, I played no other role in this transaction. They were shocked, so they actually gave us the police form to take it home, write, and return it.

“From November 2017, EOCO never called Ato Forson again until on the 19th day of November 2021 when the budget containing the E-levy was read. Immediately after the budget was read, Ato Forson indicated his opposition to the E-levy.

“On September 25, EOCO wrote to the Speaker of Parliament inviting Ato Forson. The Speaker allowed the EOCO officials to come, so we used the Speaker’s conference room. They told us that they had been instructed by the Attorney-General to take the charge statement from Ato Forson, but I said that we gave you an ordinary statement and you didn’t caution us.

“They said that there is a firm instruction, so we gave them the indication that we would meet later for it. Less than ten minutes after we left that meeting, they called me back, saying they had a firm instruction that his charge statement should be taken that day. On December 22, the Attorney-General asked the Director of Public Prosecution to cite the criminal charges against Ato Forson. By January 2021, we had to go to court to apply for bail,” he recounted.

Edudzi Tameklo’s disclosure comes on the back of the ruling by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, July 30, overturning the High Court’s ruling on the submission of no case by Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa.

The court, in a 2-1 majority decision, stated that the High Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botchwey erred in its judgment that the state established enough grounds for the case to enter the trial stage.

EK