Documents intercepted by “Our Research Desk” indicates that Minority Leader in Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson has made an offer to the Attorney-General to settle the criminal action instituted by the Republic against him for the offences of wilfully causing financial loss in the sum of Two Million, Three Hundred and Ninety Thousand Euros (€2,390,000) and causing destruction of public property in the case in which the Government of Ghana imported 30 vehicles which turned out to be unfit for use as ambulances. The move by Dr Forson’s lawyers to have the criminal action settled is interesting as it shows an attempt by Dr. Forson to avoid conviction and incarceration in the event of being found guilty after the trial of the action.
Background
In January, 2022, the Attorney-General filed five criminal charges against Dr. Ato Forson, the first accused and two others, being the former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, Mr. Sylvester Anemena and the agent for the suppliers of the ambulance, Mr. Jakpa, for the various roles they played in wrongly procuring vehicles purporting to be ambulances but which failed to meet the specifications of an ambulance during the Mahama administration in 2013/2014.
The trial court, the Financial Division of the High Court in March this year, dismissed a submission of no case made by all the accused persons, including Dr. Ato Forson, and held that the Republic had established a case for the accused persons to answer on all charges filed against them. Following that, the accused persons have opened their defence with Dr Forson calling a number of witnesses, including a lawyer from Stanbic Bank and a former Managing Director of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Alexander Kofi Mould. Should the State succeed in securing conviction against the accused persons, they stand the risk of a jail term not exceeding ten years.
It would be recalled that, earlier this year, there were news reports of the accused persons standing trial in the matter presenting proposals to the A-G for settlement. By a letter written to the Attorney-General earlier in the year, counsel for the third accused, Thomas Aubyn, formally proposed to the Attorney-General that payment of an amount of Two Million Euros (€2,000,000.00) be made by the accused persons in exchange for the prosecution to be discontinued against all the accused persons. Even though the letter written by counsel for the 3rd accused suggested that all the accused persons including the first accused, Dr. Ato Forson, intended to profit from a discontinuance of the criminal action, there was no independent proposal from the other accused persons, Ato Forson and the former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, Sylvester Anemana for settlement. The absence of a proposal from the other accused persons, even though they purported to take advantage of the settlement offer, compelled the A-G to reject the offer of settlement as he considered same unknown to the criminal procedure laws of the country.
Ruling on submissions by counsel for the accused persons in support of the earlier plea for settlement, on 15th June, 2023, the court presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, held that the criminal action instituted by the Republic against Dr. Ato Forson and the two others should proceed since the parties had not been able to reach a settlement.
The intercepted letter written on behalf of Dr. Ato Forson is dated 25th July, 2023, and signed by his counsel in the matter, Dr. Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba indicates that they “hold the instructions of Honourable Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the 1st accused”. The letter refers to the proposals earlier presented “to the Office of the Attorney-General to have the matter amicably settled”. The lawyers further indicate their “no objection” to the settlement on terms proposed in the earlier letter.
The latest letter written by counsel for the first accused, Dr. Ato Forson, associating the first accused with proposals for settlement of the criminal action significantly makes it more compelling for a settlement of the criminal action to be achieved, as it removes the major reason cited by the A-G for the earlier refusal of settlement – the absence of a clear offer by all the parties. It is interesting what the reaction of the Office of the Attorney-General will be to this latest proposal by Dr. Ato Forson’s legal team.
The A-G has the option of either accepting or rejecting the terms of settlement proposed but same is ultimately subject to the pleasure of the court. Our sources indicate that the A-G is yet to make a determination of the request for settlement by Dr. Ato Forson.
Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned to October, 2023 for continuation of the defence of Dr. Ato Forson. He is expected to call his third witness in the person of former Minister for Finance, Seth Tekper.
