A former deputy finance minister Cassiel Ato Forson has in response to some pronouncements of Attorney General Godfred Odame described him as someone who is “driven by hate, prejudice and demagoguery”.
The Attorney had stated that the former deputy finance minister, who is been prosecuted with two others for causing financial loss to the state arising out of a transaction to purchase 200 ambulances, cannot claim that he is been persecuted.
But Mr. Forson, who is also the ranking member on the finance committee of parliament maintains that the AG is “abusing his prosecutorial powers to silence critical political opponents.”.
The former deputy finance minister siting an example from the AG’s statement published on Wednesday, said Mr. Odame claims that he Cassiel Ato Forson jointly signed a memorandum to cabinet on December 22, 2011 with the Minister for Health for the purchase of the 200 ambulances out of a medium term credit facility, it is on record that he, Ato Forson “became a Deputy minister on the 2nd of May 2013. How could I have signed a cabinet memo in December 2011?”
Please read the full reaction of the former deputy minister 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?
