During a media interaction in Bolgatanga on Wednesday, Mr Mahama highlighted that $12 million has been spent on the project without any work being completed.

The Pwalugu multipurpose dam, intended to mitigate the recurring floods in the Upper East Region by 2019 is still not completed.

But the NDC flagbearer committed to completing the dam project.

“We didn’t start it because we were not able to procure dedicated funding for it because for a project like that when you start, funding it must continue till its completion and so when this new government came, they took it up and in 2019 they cut sod for it.

They said it was going to be funded from the Government of Ghana (GoG) budget and I knew that that was going to be a problem because to have almost $1 billion project funded from the GoG budget then you can be sure that it will face the hazards that every project that depends on the consolidated fund faces and that is exactly what happened.”

“Of course, it made a lot of political capital for the president’s party in cutting sod for that project…Unfortunately, we have rather lost money because almost $12 million was paid for no work done. You go to the site there is absolutely nothing there so somebody has caused financial loss to the state and must be held to account.

“But it is a project that is desirable. We intend to continue,” he stated.

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The two have been accused of causing financial loss of €2.37 million to the state in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.

Absent 

When the case was called last Thursday, Mr Jakpa, who has sacked his lawyer and had opened his defence, was supposed to continue his testimony. He was, however, not in court. 

Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, said she had received a document purporting to be an excuse duty  sent to the clerk of the court via WhatsApp. 

Issuing the bench warrant, she said even though the document claimed to be a medical certificate it did not display his condition. 

“Unfortunately Jakpa dispensed with his lawyer and is yet to get a new one 

“We will err on the side of caution and issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused,” the judge said. 

The case has been adjourned to Tuesday, March 26, this year. 

Charges 

The two accused persons have pleaded not guilty to counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act and intentionally misapplying public property.

Per the A-G’s facts accompanying the charge sheet, in 2009, while delivering the State of the Nation Address, the then President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, indicated that new ambulances would be purchased to expand the operations of the National Ambulance Service.

Jakpa, who is a local representative of Big Sea General Trading Limited, a company based in Dubai, subsequently approached the Ministry of Health with a proposal that he had arranged for finance from Stanbic Bank for the supply of 200 ambulances to the government.

Parliament approved the financing agreement between the government and Stanbic Bank.

According to the facts, on November 19, 2012, Dr Anemana wrote to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) seeking approval to engage Big Sea through single sourcing for the supply of the 200 
ambulances.

They added that on August  7, 2014, Dr Forson wrote to the Bank of Ghana for letters of credit covering €3.95 million for the supply of 50 ambulances in favour of Big Sea.

The letters of credit were accordingly released to Big Sea.

The facts said 30 ambulances were purchased at a sum of €2.37 million but all were found not to have met ambulance specifications, and therefore “not fit for purpose”.

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According to him, Godfred Dame is driven by hate, prejudice and demagoguery, adding he is abusing his prosecutorial powers to silence critical political opponents.

The former Deputy Finance Minister and two others; a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health; Sylvester Anemana, and a businessman; Richard Jakpa, are alleged to have cost the state to lose €2.37 million.

This was in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.

They have been dragged to the Accra High Court by the AG on counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act, and intentionally misapplying public property.

Setting the records straight earlier at a press conference, he said the accusation is a deliberate attempt to intimidate him due to his continuous opposition to the government’s policies, notably the e-levy.

In response, a statement signed by Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Diana Asonaba Dapaah, rejected the claims.

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It argued the lawmaker’s claim is intended to cause public disaffection for the office.

Mr Forson maintains, however, that the office cannot order him on how to respond to such “malicious” allegations against him.

“I wish to state that the Attorney General’s office cannot determine my reaction to the sinister plot to needlessly tarnish my reputation and rob me of my liberty simply because I remain implacably opposed to the poor economic policies of this government, and in particular the E-Levy,” he fumed.

Read the full reaction below:

I have noted a statement issued by a Deputy Attorney General claiming that by speaking out against the malice and deliberate political persecution inherent in the decision to prosecute me, I am exposing the Attorney General to “hate” and “prejudice”.

I wish to state that the Attorney General’s office cannot determine my reaction to the sinister plot to needlessly tarnish my reputation and rob me of my liberty simply because I remain implacably opposed to the poor economic policies of this government and in particular the E-Levy.

It is the Attorney General who is driven by hate, prejudice and demagoguery! He is the one abusing his prosecutorial powers to silence critical political opponents.

For instance, on Paragraph 7 of the AG’s statement issued yesterday, it was claimed that;

“As stated in the facts of the case filed in court on 22nd December 2011, cabinet endorsed an executive approval of a joint memorandum submitted to cabinet by the then Minister for Health and the first accused Cassiel Ato Forson, then Deputy Minister for Finance, for the purchase of 200 ambulances out of a medium-term credit facility of €15,800,000 between Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited and the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance.”

For the avoidance of doubt, the Cabinet memo for the purchase of the Ambulances was submitted in December 2011.

I became a Deputy minister on the 2nd of May 2013. How could I have signed a cabinet MEMO in December 2011?

Though I am yet to be formally charged in court, I have seen copies of the charge sheet in the media and wish to say without any fear of contradiction that these charges are nothing but a frivolous and politically motivated attempt by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo and his hatchet man, the Attorney General, to silence me for performing my duties as the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of the Parliament of Ghana.

But I want to assure the good people of this country, especially my constituents who elected me to represent them in Parliament, that I will not and cannot be silenced by the blatant abuse of prosecutorial powers by the Attorney General.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The investigation into the purchase of the ambulances, which is the basis for these frivolous charges, started in somewhere 2017.

In November 2017, a request was made to the then Speaker of Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Aaron Mike Ocquaye, for me to assist the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) with their investigation into this matter.

I provided a statement to the EOCO detailing my honest recollection of the transaction.

Interestingly, nothing was heard of the investigation until November 2021, a period of four years, when I started raising concerns about the 2022 Budget and Economic Policy of the Government.

During this period, the Secretariat of the Rt. Honourable Speaker informed me that the EOCO had requested that I be released to assist with further investigation into the purchase of the ambulances.

I was further informed that the Office of the Attorney General had requested that a charge statement be taken from me in preparation for formal charges to be filed against me.

The coincidence speaks volumes about the motivation for these frivolous and baseless charges.

A cursory reading of the frivolous and politically motivated charges shows that my only role in the entire transaction was to have signed a letter on behalf of the Minister of Finance, in my capacity as Deputy Finance Minister, for the establishment of letters of credit by the Bank of Ghana and for payment by the Controller Accountant General of the charges for the letters of credit.

If I may ask, ladies and gentlemen of the press since when did ministerial instruction for the establishment of letters of credit become a crime in this dear country of ours?

It is important to note that, whilst I am being prosecuted for my role in instructing that letters of credit be established for the purchase of ambulances for use in our health delivery system, the Attorney General does not see it fit to prosecute those who left the ambulances purchased with taxpayer money to rot while pregnant women are being carried on bicycles, aboboyaa, push trucks and okada bikes to hospitals all over the country to deliver the next generation of Ghanaians.

Between the person who requested that letters of credit be established for the purchase of ambulances and the person who took the decision to leave the purchased ambulances to deteriorate, who has caused financial loss to the state? Which of these two has misapplied state property?

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I must point out that the instructions of the Ministry of Finance for the establishment of letters of credit was preceded by a well-written opinion of the Attorney General in an opinion letter dated May 9, 2014, advising the Ministry of Health on this transaction.

It was based upon the advice of the Attorney General that the Legal Division of the Ministry of Finance advised the Minister of Finance, not the Deputy Minister, to take steps to establish the letters of credit.

At the appropriate time, and in the course of the trial, we will make available the full complement of documentation through the process of discovery.

In the meantime, the question you should be asking the Attorney General and his Director of Public Prosecutions is why they are running away from their own legal opinion? Don’t they know that it is highly unethical and unprofessional for a lawyer to issue an opinion on the position of the law on a matter and then turn around to act against her own advice? I dare say that that is professional misconduct.

It should be noted that I did not authorise payment for the said 2,370,000 Euros, My only job in the entire transaction was to request the issuance of  LC (Letter of Credit) on the authority of the Minister of Finance, A letter of credit is letter from a bank guaranteeing that a buyer’s payment to a seller will be received on time and for the correct amount.

In the event that the buyer is unable to make a payment on the purchase, the bank will be required to cover the full or remaining amount of the purchase.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

May I take this opportunity to thank you for coming to this press conference and to once again assure the good people of this country that neither myself as the Ranking Member on Finance nor the NDC Minority Group will relent on our fight to ensure that the feet of this profligate Government is held to the fire.

We will stand firm and protect the people of Ghana from misrule and poor economic policy choices. Not even a million prosecutions will stop us in our quest to ensure accountability and transparency in the management of our public finances.

Thank you and God bless our homeland Ghana.

According to him, the charges are frivolous and politically motivated.

The Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam lawmaker and two others; a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health; Sylvester Anemana, and a businessman; Richard Jakpa, are alleged to have cost the state to lose €2.37 million.

This was in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.

They have been dragged to the Accra High Court by the Attorney-General on five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act, and intentionally misapplying public property.

Setting the records straight at a press conference on Thursday, he said the accusation is a deliberate attempt to intimidate him due to his continuous opposition to the government’s policies notably the e-levy.

But to him, he cannot be anyway silenced, adding he remains resolute to fighting for the good interest of Ghanaians.

“Though I am yet to be formally charged in court, I have seen copies of the charge sheet in the media and wish to say without any fear of contradiction that these charges are nothing but a frivolous and politically motivated attempt by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his hatchet man, the Attorney General, to silence me for performing my duties as the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of the Parliament of Ghana.

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“But I want to assure the good people of this country, especially my constituents
who elected me to represent them in Parliament, that I will not and cannot be silenced by the blatant abuse of prosecutorial powers by the Attorney General,” he said.

He added all actions taken in the said transaction were backed by the legal opinion from the then-Attorney General, and he only acted to raise the letters of credit in question on behalf of the substantive Minister.

The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has accused the government of a witch-hunting agenda following charges of financial loss against him and to others.

As a former Deputy Finance Minister, Mr Forson says all his roles in the transaction were backed by the legal opinion from the then-Attorney General.

Therefore, he only acted to raise the letters of credit in question on behalf of the substantive Minister.

Against this backdrop, he expects the government to focus and pursue the ‘real’ perpetrators who caused financial loss to the state at the expense of innocent people.

“Clearly, this is witch-hunting. Let me tell the government I am not a witch that they should hunt. They should look for the witch. The witch is the person who allowed the ambulances that came in to rot. He is the witch that should be hunted,” the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam MP lashed out at a press briefing on Friday.

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His comment is in response to criminal charges filed against him by the Attorney-General for causing a  €2.37 million financial loss in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.

He bemoaned the timing speaks volume as he has mounted fierce opposition to the government’s e-levy policy, hence the allegation an attempt to silence and intimidate him.

Stating he is yet to be formally charged in court, he was quick to add he will at the appropriate time, and in the course of the trial make available the full complement of
documentation through the process of discovery.

Play the audio above for more:

The former Deputy Finance Minister says he will not be distracted by what he has described as machinations of the state.

According to him, the suit is a result of his opposition to the “repressive policies” of the incumbent government.

Mr Forson and two others; a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health; Sylvester Anemana, and a businessman; Richard Jakpa, are alleged to have cost the state to lose €2.37 million.

The AG has dragged them to the Accra High Court on five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act, and intentionally misapplying public property.

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This was in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016 under the Prof Atta-Mills and Mahama led administration.

But in a Facebook post, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee said he will engage the media about the matter and urged calm among the right-thinking members of society.

Read the full post below:

The two others are a former Chief Director at the Ministry of Health, Sylvestre Anemana and a businessman, Richard Jakpa.

The three have been dragged to the Accra High Court on five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act, and intentionally misapplying public property.

The charges filed by the Attorney General’s office is in relation to the procurement of 200 ambulances under the erstwhile Prof John Evans Atta Mills and John Mahama administration.

Mr Jakpa is alleged to have used his company Jakpa Business, to present a proposal and term loan to the Ministry of Health to finance the supply of 200 ambulances.

The Cabinet at the time subsequently endorsed an Executive approval for the project.

On this backdrop, the country incurred a $2.4 million loss after 30 ambulances were procured in 2014 by the Health Ministry which were later found to be faulty.

Despite the original plan to procure 200 ambulances, the government suspended the deal after the delivered ones did not meet the required specifications.

On the part of Mr Anemana, the AG said in November 2012, he breached procurement processes by making false representations for the purpose of unfair advantage in the award of a single-source contract to Big Sea General Trading Limited in Dubai for the supply of the ambulances.

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Mr Forson, who is also the  Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Member of Parliament, had earlier stated that the Finance Ministry at the time only “issued at sight letters of credit”.

This, he explained, was on behalf of the Health Ministry after they had put in a request.

Read the full document from the AG’s office below:

This is a year after the Accra High Court agreed to their terms and entered into settlement agreements to pay GH¢20.11 million as restitution for financial loss caused the state.

The others are a former Executive Assistant to Duku, Irene Anti-Mensah, her husband, Mr Frank Aboagye Mensah, and a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta who is also a former member of the Board of Trustees of VCTF (the Board), Mr Richard Lassey Agbenyefia.

Not paid

This was after they had per the agreement changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty and they were convicted on their own pleas by the court.

In that regard, the convicts were expected to finish paying their debts by the end of September 2020.

However, the Daily Graphic gathered from court documents that the former CEO and the others were yet to fulfil the terms for which their trial ended.
Duku, the Daily Graphic gathered, had only settled GH¢1 million out of the GH¢15 million debt, while Anti-Mensah out of the GH¢1.5 million had settled GH¢1.43 million, leaving a balance of GH¢70,000.

The others, Aboagye Mensah, had paid GH¢430,000 out of GH¢1.195 million with a balance of GH¢765,000 and Agbenyefia had also paid GH¢200,000 out of GH¢2.41 million, leaving a balance of GH¢2.21 million.

Amounts to settled

Per the agreement reached and accepted by the Accra High Court, Duku was expected to pay GH¢15 million to the VCTF and a fine of GH¢500,000 to the state.

Anti-Mensah was to pay GH¢1.5 million to the VCTF and a fine of GH¢100,000, while Aboagye Mensah was to pay GH¢1.195 million to VCTF and a fine of GH¢100,000 to the state.

The fourth person, Richard Agbenyefia, who later entered similar agreement, was also to pay GH¢2.41 million to VCTF.

Under section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993, the convicts were expected to fulfil the conditions set by the court for the payment of the restitution; else the court shall pass a custodial sentence on them.

The Attorney-General is yet to take a legal course of action concerning their default in the payment of the various sums.

Background

The four with two others were standing trial at the Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Anthony Oppong on various charges of allegedly causing financial loss to the state, abetment of crime, stealing, defrauding by false pretences and issuing of false cheques.

Duku and the five others are said to have caused financial loss of GH¢42.8 million to the state by giving out loans to unqualified applicants.

In July last year, three of them, Duku, Anti-Mensah and Aboagye Mensah, entered into negotiations with the Attorney General under Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993, (Act 459), a provision that allows accused persons to offer compensation and restitution to the state for the loss, harm or damage caused the state.

Trial of two others

Meanwhile, the trial of the two others, Mr Kofi Sarpong, an investment officer of VCTF, and Ms Charity Opoku also known as Ms Charity Ameyaw, an accountant at VCTF, who pleaded not guilty to the offences levelled against them, have started.

The current CEO of the Venture Capital Trust Fund, Mr Yaw Owusu-Brempong, appeared as the first prosecution witness.

The prosecution tendered in his witness statement as their evidence in chief.

A few questions were put to him under cross-examination before the case was adjourned to Wednesday, December 1, this year.

Charges

Mr Kofi Sarpong is facing 102 charges of abetment of crime, to wit causing financial loss to the state, abetment of crime, to wit defrauding by false pretence, and conspiracy to commit crime, to wit stealing.

Ms Charity Ameyaw, on the other hand, is facing two counts of causing financial loss to public property to a tune of GH¢12.6 million and abetment of crime, to wit causing financial loss to the state.

She has been accused of facilitating Duku to cause financial loss of GH¢1.94 million by signing cheques to enable the granting of loans to unqualified applicants.