Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine relied on a UNDATED, UNSIGNED, and UNMINUTED DOCUMENT, which he claimed was an ‘internal memo’ to file his Nolle Prosecui in the case involving Dr. Johnson Pundit Asiama and the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), according to the Forensic Investigative Team (FIT) of The New Crusading GUIDE.
It would be recalled that at his February 12, 2025, Press Conference, Dr. Ayine submitted that his review of some of the cases had revealed “fatal flaws in the case of the prosecution.”
Hear him: “A few examples are in order. In two of the banking trials still on-going, I took the decision to withdraw the charges against Johnson Pundit Asiama for the simple reason that in the course of my review of the cases, MY ATTENTION WAS DRAWN TO AN INTERNAL MEMO PREPARED BY THE PROSECUTIONS DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE FORMER ATTORNEY-GENERAL WHICH RECOMMENDED THAT THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM BE DROPPED”(Emphasis-ours).
After purporting to quote from what he claimed was the ‘internal memo’, Dr. Ayine continued: “Obviously, the former Attorney-General failed to act on these recommendations which were made to him by the Prosecutions Division. If he disagreed with the recommendations, I am unable to say, but I agree with them. Based upon these recommendations, I dropped the charges against Johnson Pundit Asiama in both the Unibank and UT Bank cases. In coming to this decision, I am fortified by the Rule 40 (2) (a) of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 2020 (L. I. 2423) which provides that in a criminal case, a prosecutor shall refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by the facts”.
A copy of the document Dr. Ayine claimed was an ‘internal memo’ under reference, sighted by our “Forensic Investigative Team (FIT) clearly shows that Attorney-General Ayine relied on an UNDATED, UNSIGNED and UNMINUTED document to trigger his Nolle Prosecui relative to the Johnson Pundit Asiama/UMB case.
UNDOUBTEDLY, A DOCUMENT WHICH IS UNDATED, UNSIGNED BY ANYBODY AND UNMINUTED ON BY ANYBODY CAN HARDLY BE DESCRIBED AS A MEMO.
Public interest considerations would require clear answers to the following critical questions and observations
*(1): Did the Attorney-General personally see a DATED, SIGNED, and MINUTED copy of the alleged internal memo during his review; leading to his decision to file the NOLLE PROSECUI in question?
*(2): Did he verify and validate whether or not the alleged internal memo was indeed transmitted to the former Attorney-General?
*(3): If it (alleged internal memo) was transmitted to the former Attorney-General, when was it done? How was it done? By hand or via email? And by who?
*(4): Is it the practice that internal memoranda in the Office of the Attorney- General or the Civil Service are transmitted to appropriate or relevant authorities for their attention and action; UNDATED and UNSIGNED? And when might it have been transmitted? Was it the case that there would be no minutes on it?
*(5): If the Attorney-General is not able to provide answers to the questions and observations above, it goes without saying that he owes his predecessor an unqualified apology. It ought to be borne in mind that his claim has been relied upon by many people in unnecessarily assailing the integrity of his distinguished predecessor, Godfred Yeboah Dame.
Meanwhile, we have many other questions for the Attorney-General.
*(6): Assuming without admitting that the alleged internal memo may have been emailed to the former Attorney-General, as being claimed in some pro-government circles, would those in charge of the AG Department’s “Office Emails” not be able to trace the trail?
*(7): THERE WERE TWO CASES AGAINST DR. ASIAMA. DID ATTORNEY-GENERAL AYINE RELY ON ANY INTERNAL MEMO FROM THE STATE ATTORNEYS OR THE PROSECUTIONS DIVISION BEFORE DISCONTINUING THE OTHER ONE (UT BANK CASE)? WHAT REALLY WAS/IS THE RELEVANCE OF THE UNDATED, UNSIGNED AND UNMINUTED DOCUMENT IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS?
*(8): Indeed, would Attorney-General Ayine be generous enough to tell the good people of Ghana if he relied on a memorandum or memoranda before discontinuing the other prosecutions?
*(9): If the strange, ludicrous narrative of shredding of official documents including the alleged internal memo under reference, is to believed, wouldn’t it become OBVIOUS that Attorney-General Ayine relied on an UNDATED, UNSIGNED and UNMINUTED DRAFT of a document which cannot by any stretch of imagination, be considered as an internal memo to discontinue the case against Dr. Johnson Pundit Asiama?
Stay tuned for more “forensics”.
