The lawyers of minority leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson have initiated moves for a plea bargain, as confirmed by the Attorney General’s department. According to Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, they did so through a third party.
This revelation comes after the lawyers of Dr. Ato Forson challenged the Attorney General’s department to provide any letter suggesting that their client has initiated any plea bargain talks.
The challenge was in response to media reports that the minority leader had contacted the Attorney General’s department for a plea bargain deal.
Dr. Ato Forson, along with two others, is facing criminal charges of causing financial loss to the state in the faulty ambulance deal.
The accused persons are alleged to have committed criminal acts in the purchase of 50 faulty ambulances worth 2.3 million Euros.
Specifically, Dr. Ato Forson, the Deputy Finance Minister at the time of the purchase, is accused of issuing letters of credit for the purchase of the ambulances without any authorization, although he has denied this vehemently.
The state has concluded its case and the court has directed Dr. Ato Forson, the first accused person, to begin his defence. He has so far called two witnesses and plans to call four others, including his former boss Seth Terkper and former Health Minister Alex Segbefia.
However, the state has received letters from Dr. Forson’s lawyers endorsing a request for a plea bargain made by a third party. Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah explained in an interview with Citi News that his office received two separate letters from a third party offering to pay for the ambulances to have the case withdrawn.
“Last year, someone who was not a party to that prosecution offered to make a refund and take the ambulance back, and in lieu of that, we withdraw the case,” Tuah-Yeboah noted.
However, because the Attorney General’s department did not want to deal with persons who were not directly charged, the accused persons were asked to take a position on the offer.
“There was a second letter, and we said we don’t even know those of you who have written this letter. If you want those who are being prosecuted to take advantage of your proposal, they should come up with that proposal,” the deputy Attorney General said in an interview with Citi News’ Hanson Agyemang.
Subsequently, lawyers of some of the accused persons wrote to the department endorsing the offer.
“The accused persons, some of them through their lawyers, wrote that they actually endorse the letter written by the third party seeking to return the money.”
On the question of whether the Minority Leader made such a move, the Deputy Attorney General indicated that “Mr. Forson’s lawyers also wrote a letter seeking to say they were also siding with the third party who had offered to pay that money.”
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s department is yet to make a decision on the request.
SOURCE: Citinews
