Ambulance trial: NDC to drag A-G to General Legal Council

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame of a breach in the code of conduct that regulates the legal profession in Ghana.

This comes after it was alleged in open court that, Mr Dame tried to get an accused person to incriminate the Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in the ongoing ambulance purchase trial.

Already, the allegation has been swiftly denied by the Attorney General’s department.

According to a State Attorney and spokesperson for the A-G’s department, Isaac Wilberforce Mensah, the communication between Mr Dame and the third accused in the ambulance purchase trial, Richard Jakpa, has been in pursuit of a plea bargain requested by the accused.

“The question now is, if indeed what happened in court happened, has any wrongdoing been done? That is the question. Has the Attorney General acted unlawfully? If indeed he acted in the way that is being told in the media that he acted, has he acted unlawfully? The answer is no.”

He clarified that, the Attorney General does not have to coerce anybody to make a case against an individual.

“The Attorney General himself has denied this emphatically. All this is more or less much to do about nothing. The law is clear. Is it legal for the Attorney General or prosecution to engage an accused person? Yes, it’s lawful.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. It is allowed in law. Did the Attorney General make statements to the effect that go and make false statements against anyone? The answer is no,” he said.

However, the NDC insists the allegation by the third accused cannot be brushed away.

The party is, therefore, threatening to drag the A-G to the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council.

The National Communications Officer of the party, Sammy Gyamfi said they will follow the matter to its logical conclusion.

According to him, the conduct of the Attorney General in the matter is a breach of the ethics of the legal profession.

“This is a man who, because of the position he occupies, is described as the leader of the bar. But this conduct of Dame is unbecoming of even an ordinary lawyer not to talk of the leader of the bar.

“It is also a breach of the prosecutor’s code of conduct. It amounts to witness tampering and constitutes a crime, that is the offense of fabrication of evidence provided under sections 213 and 214 of the Criminal and Other Offenses Act,” he said.

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