I declared war on Godfred Dame after he opposed my “Submission of no Case” – Richard Jakpa

The third accused person in the case of the Republic versus Cassiel Ato Forson and two others, Richard Jakpa, has told the High Court conducting the trial that he declared war against the person of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame after he opposed the “Submission of no Case” application filed by his lawyers when the state closed its case against him and the two other accused persons.

Richard Jakpa while answering cross-examination questions from the director of public prosecution, (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa on Thursday, 19 June 2024, shocked the Court in Accra when he disclosed that he had declared war on Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame and that it does not matter whether he is jailed or acquitted, he will execute his plan.

According to Richard Jakpa, the Attorney General was using his law skills and knowledge to take his liberty away from him unjustly, and to that end, he was also going to use his “underworld skills to pay him and deal with him.”

Cross-examination

The DPP as part of her cross-examination suggested to Richard Jakpa; “You told this court on 13 June 2024 that the Attorney General (AG) assured you that he would let you go free before the submission of no case. Is that right? Mr Jakpa, in his answer to this question, said, “Yes.”

Question: “Take a look at this. Can you read the title?”

Answer: “Written submission by the Republic showing that a sufficient case to answer has been made against the accused.”

Question: “Can you tell the court when it was filed?”

Answer: “16 March”

Question: “Who signed it?”

Answer: “The Attorney General?”

Question: “On the last page, there is an address for service, and it was served on your lawyers. Is that not so?”

Answer: “Yes.”

Question: “I am putting it you that it is not true that the Attorney General after he had filed a response to your “submission of no case” and served it on you and stated that you had a case to answer, that he would turn round and tell you that you will go free two weeks after he had filed this?”

Answer: “[The Attorney General indeed reneged on his promise], and it is so because he promised me on 27 July 2022. This “submission of no case,” which was filed on 17 March, is not the date of the ruling but the date of the filing, and it was served on my lawyer.

“My dealings with the Attorney General were on the blind side of my lawyer, and this document that was served on my lawyer I was not aware of it. I had to compartmentalise my dealings and engagement with the Attorney General because my engagement with the AG was strictly on a need-to-know and share basis.”

Question: “What actually happened was that the Attorney General told you when you kept pressuring him to enter nolle prosequi in your favor, to enter a plea bargaining agreement if you so desired?”

Answer: “My Lord, the Attorney General never said such a thing to me. In fact, the real discussion that took place on that night was that the Attorney General, having educated me that Jakpa @ Business, was a mere agent, I then asked why he charged me. I even went further and accused him of my cousin before. I had told the Attorney General that if he had listened to Joy FM in 2017 when the hullabaloo of this case started, I would have stated that Seth Terkper and Sherry Aryittey deliberately sabotaged the ambulance project.

“And I had a verbal confrontation with Ato Forson when he came on air to defend Seth Terkper. I told him he was not in the executive arm of government and that he was in Parliament, so he should stick to his parliamentary work. Seth Terkper started sabotaging this project right from the time he was deputy finance minister. So for some years, Ato Forson and I never saw eye to eye.

“We were not friends. I told him on the radio to get his boss Seth Terkper to come and deny on radio. All this I told the Attorney General that night and I made him aware that I was a bitter man and I had lost so much – millions of dollars so he should make me a prosecution witness instead of prosecuting me a victim because of the evil of Sherry Aryittey.

“He saw that I was angry, so he told me that I shouldn’t worry and that at the submission of no case stage, they would discharge me, and it would be left with A1 and A2. When the ruling came, I was not surprised because I knew the modus operandi of the current government when cutting deals with people they see as their political opponents.

“They never keep to the end of their bargain. So I confronted Justice Kulendi. I sent him a message that I had been asked to open my defense as envisaged. Then Justice Kulendi responded on WhatsApp to me don’t worry and said your friend said he would call you…. has he called you? Then I responded no. Then he sent another message [saying], come home.

“It was that day and that night that I declared war on the Attorney General. I told him that any man who deliberately decides to take the liberty of another man without any justifiable cause would never be my friend till eternity. And I told the two of them that the Attorney General is a lawyer, and he is using his law skills and knowledge to take my liberty away from me unjustly and I am also going to use my underworld skills to pay him and deal with him. I said [he should] use what [he] knows best in [the] law, and I will also use what I know best on the street and will see who will survive.

“So, as far as I am concerned, there is a war between the two of us whether I’m jailed or acquitted. Because he is trying to jail me and take my liberty as a citizen. He has caused me pain, destroyed my reputation, and stripped me of everything I have worked for over decades, and that can not be paid by an acquittal because of the judge who is adjudicating the trial. He and my cousin tried to calm me down, but the battle line had already been drawn.”

Question: “So, all that you did in recording the Attorney General and bringing it in public was in furtherance of your declaration of war on him.”

Answer: “That is not entirely true because if the Attorney General had stayed in the protective space of Justice Kulendi, no such recording would have taken place because I cannot engage in any recording in my cousin’s house. It would have been a mark of disrespect and family values. So, as long as he continued arranging meetings in Justice Kulendi’s house, there would not have been any such recording.

“But since he could not achieve his aim on 25 March into the morning of 26 March 2024, he got angry and left the meeting and I was also angry and Justice Kulendi told me not to follow the AG and that I should wait for the AG to leave before I go… in any case I’m older than him, I’ve been in governance before him so as for him I don’t have any reverence for him.”

Complete WhatsApp Chat

Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe’s court before cross-examination of the 3rd accused person resumed, admitted the full WhatsApp conversation between the Attorney General and Richard Jakpa after determining that it does not present any substantial danger of prejudice to any of the parties in the ongoing trial.

The prosecution ( The Attorney General Department) tendered the chats after Richard Jakpa himself admitted that the one that was earlier tendered through him by Dr Cassiel Ato Forson was not complete, adding that he chose those messages that he deemed would help him make his case.

Thaddeus Sory, counsel for the 3rd accused person (Richard Jakpa), objected to the tendering of the chat, arguing that it did not include all the messages exchanged between his client and the Attorney General.

Mr Sory also argued that the messages the Attorney General is seeking to tender are not reliable, not authentic, and enough foundation was not laid for the tendering of the documents, adding that the AG’s phone and the accused person’s phone ought to be compared.

The DPP opposed the objection and argued that the accused person himself (Richard Jakpa) had admitted that what he brought was not complete, adding that if the prosecution seeks to tender more than the selected messages, that should better help the court and should not be a ground for objection.

She added that it is not enough for counsel for 3rd accused person to say the prosecution omitted messages from it without saying any specific messages that were allegedly omitted.

Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe in her ruling said Richard Jakpa had admitted that what he brought was what he thought was relevant for his case and since the prosecution is putting this forward as the complete message, it would be admitted, with the court deciding what weight to put on it.

Next court sitting

The court will reconstitute on Thursday, 27 June 2024, for the director of public prosecution (DPP) Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa to continue her cross-examination of Richard Jakpa. Ordinarily, the court would have sat on Tuesday, 25 June 2024, but the DPP informed the presiding judge that her team would not be available for the Tuesday hearing. The court subsequently obliged.

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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