The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is desperate to shield Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson in the ongoing Ambulance Purchase trial.
Responding to the NDC following the latter’s release of an alleged tape that indicts the Attorney General, the NPP said the largest opposition party in the country is engaged in a malicious scheme fueled by lies, falsehoods, misrepresentations, blackmail and needless pollution of the mass media, with the sole intention of “obstructing the course of justice and scandalising the criminal proceedings in the High Court, to shield ATO FORSON (MP), Minority Leader in Parliament and former Deputy Minister of Finance, and his associates from taking responsibility for authorizing some payments which resulted in a whooping sum of 3.27 million Euros being lost by the state— monies that belonged to you and I as Ghanaians”
Lawyer Francis Davis, who addressed the press yesterday said the NDC has for some time now initiated moves to discontinue the criminal proceedings against the Minority Leader
“It is no secret that the NDC since the commencement of Ato Forson’s prosecution has threatened rain and storm against Government, the Attorney-General and any person they can find to cajole the Attorney-General from discontinuing the prosecution. Pressure has come from every angle including former President Mahama, the Leadership of the Minority in Parliament, clergy, business friends of Ato Forson etc. Indeed, Former President Mahama specifically maintained the discontinuance of the Ambulance Trial as a condition to get Members of the minority in Parliament to agree to the recent recall of Parliament and has on several other occasions, stated it as a condition for the cooperation of the Minority in Parliament..” he said.
“This pressure stems from some warped and baseless logic of the NDC that the Ato Forson’s prosecution is politically motivated and its Leader in Parliament, should be immune from prosecution even when the facts indicate conduct resulting in financial loss to the state. As mentioned earlier, investigations commenced as far back as 2017 making it imperative to ask, “Why is Ato Forson the only government official being prosecuted from all the former NDC Ministers from whom statements were taken?”.
“Clearly, the prosecution is based on the various documentation available from the participating agencies in the transaction and this is evidenced by the Court’s ruling upholding that a case has been made by the Attorney General that warrants an answer from the defence. It is also worth noting, that prosecution of Cassiel Ato Forson commenced even before he became Minority Leader making worthless and nonsensical the suggestion that he is being prosecuted because he is minority leader of the NDC,” he added.
