Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, who is in the middle of the meeting between the Attorney General (AG), Godfred Yeboah Dame and Richard Jakpa, the third accused person, might have to be dragged to the High Court to testify in the ambulance case.
The Supreme Court judge, has remained tightlipped on how and why he facilitated a meeting between an accused person and the Attorney-General with the latter accused of coaching Jakpa to implicate the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the then-ranking member for finance and now the Minority Leader to have him jailed.
With the silence of Justice Kulendi, the defence teams, according to legal brains, might opt for a subpoena to have him appear before Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, to give an account of the said meeting which happened in his house.
Both the prosecution and defence teams last week, filed various processes in court which could ultimately lead to the appearance of Justice Kulendi, said to be a cousin of Mr Jakpa.
Ahead of that, however, the Attorney General, has submitted an affidavit contesting the application by Richard Jakpa, who is seeking to have charges against him dismissed.
The A-G admitted meeting Jakpa in Justice Kulendi’s residence, but wants his application dismissed by the court, describing it as “a desperate smokescreen set up” to “abort his legitimate prosecution for the role he played in causing colossal financial loss to the State.”
Mr Dame, through his legal counsel, has filed processes at the High Court, opposing an application by an accused person in a high financial crimes trial.
The accused person, earlier this week, applied to the court hearing the Ambulance Case, to dismiss the charges brought against him or stay proceedings.
Jakpa, cited unethical overtures by the A-G, among others in seeking to get him to implicate a co-accused person, Cassiel Ato Forson, who is the first accused in the trial.
In his filings of May 31, 2024, Dame responded copiously to the content of Jakpa’s application, including the issue of purported meetings he had with Jakpa in the absence of the third accused lawyers as by law required.
Paragraph 13 of the document titled: ‘Affidavit in opposition to motion for an order striking out the charges and terminating the proceedings or alternatively staying the proceedings against the third accused/applicant,’ also addressed the role a Supreme Court Justice played in the said meeting between the two.
Paragraph 14 said the May 23, 2024 incident where Jakpa openly accused the A-G of witness tampering in open court was part of the manipulation of facts and untruths underlying the application.
“That in specific response to paragraphs 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the affidavit in support, the Respondent says that the applicant again deliberately puts a spin on the facts surrounding the so-called meeting with the Attorney-General. The Applicant knows, as has already been indicated by his counsel to the trial judge in chambers, that, it was his cousin, Yonny Kulendi JSC, who invited the Attorney-General to the distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court’s residence, an invitation the Attorney-General honoured out of respect, only for the Applicant to show up,” paragraph 15 read.
The following paragraph clarified: “That the respondent says that the Attorney-General has never met the Applicant anywhere outside the courtroom, except in Kulendi JSC’s residence.”
The A-G wants the application by Jakpa dismissed by the court describing it as “a desperate smokescreen set up” to “abort his legitimate prosecution for the role he played in causing colossal financial loss to the State.”
Jakpa’s legal team submitted an application to the court, requesting that the charges against him be dropped or, alternatively, that the proceedings be halted insisting that Mr Dame had multiple interactions with him, during which Dame assured him of his innocence and promised his acquittal.
Jakpa further alleges that Dame informed him that his inclusion in the prosecution was to mask the real intent behind the trial.
He asserts that Dame initiated the action due to pressure from President Akufo-Addo and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to persecute Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the then-ranking member for finance and now the Minority Leader.
However, in the application contesting that filed by Mr Jakpa, the AG stated that Mr Jakpa, had not presented valid grounds to justify the granting of the application, which is recognized in the country’s criminal procedure and practice.
The AG, also characterised the application as a deceptive and desperate attempt by the applicant to halt his legitimate prosecution for his role in causing financial loss to the state through the purchase of regular vans misrepresented as ambulances.
The third accused in the ongoing ambulance trial, Richard Jakpa, has filed a court application seeking to have the charges against him dismissed or, alternatively, have the proceedings against him stayed.
The application was submitted yesterday, Thursday, May 30, 2024, by his lawyers led by Thaddeus Sory of Messrs Sory @ Law.
In the application, Mr Jakpa, argues that the charges and proceedings initiated by the Attorney-General, constitute an abuse of court processes and violate the obligations set in the 1992 Constitution.
He contends that the Attorney-General is misusing his constitutional powers by prosecuting him without justification.
Mr Jakpa, also claims that in private conversations, the Attorney-General admitted that there is no case against him. This assertion further supports Mr Jakpa’s argument that the prosecution is unwarranted and constitutes an abuse of power.
“The Attorney-General at whose instance the Third Accused/ Applicant is being prosecuted in the instant suit has brought the charges and instituted the proceedings in abuse of the process of the court and contrary to his constitutional obligations under articles 23 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution.”
