The Deputy Attorney-General, Justice Srem Sai, has dismissed claims by former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame that former National Food Buffer Stock Company CEO Abdul-Wahab Hanan was denied access to legal counsel following his re-arrest by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
Speaking to journalists at the High Court in Accra on Thursday, May 7, Justice Srem Sai described the allegations as baseless and misleading.
“That is false, completely false. His client was not well and was taken to the clinic yesterday. When they came back, the interrogators were waiting for him because you cannot interrogate a suspect in the absence of his lawyer. We know the accused person had lawyers, so it is fair, right and the proper thing to do to wait for the lawyers to come. He was nowhere to be found,” he explained.
He criticised Mr Dame for what he said was an attempt to litigate the matter in the media instead of following the appropriate legal and institutional channels.
According to him, the former Attorney-General should have engaged EOCO officials directly if there were concerns about access to his clients, rather than making public accusations.
Justice Srem Sai argued that such public commentary could distort public understanding of due process and undermine confidence in state institutions handling the matter.
“He said his junior lawyers sat at the EOCO headquarters waiting for access, but that is hearsay. Most of the time yesterday was spent waiting for him and his lawyers to come, and he never showed up. I think it was around the same time that he was on TV and radio granting interviews.
“There should be some basic principles with which all of us work. I’ve had personal conversations with him on the day we withdrew the charges, and he made specific requests, some of which have been granted,” he stated.
The comments come after lawyers for Abdul-Wahab Hanan and his wife, Faiza Sayyid Wuni, claimed they had been unable to reach their clients more than 24 hours after their re-arrest.
The couple, together with other accused persons, were re-arrested shortly after the Office of the Attorney-General withdrew all charges against them, citing fresh evidence.
However, their legal team, led by former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, alleged that EOCO officials had denied them access to the couple.
“They have been denied access to counsel. Junior colleagues of mine who are at EOCO say that as of about 11 o’clock, they have not been given access to them. They have not been allowed to see their clients,” he said in an interview on JoyNews.
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