The Court of Appeal has acquitted and discharged the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, from the ongoing ambulance case, overturning the previous order from the trial court which required Dr. Ato Forson to present his defense.
The Court of Appeal’s ruling nullifies the trial court’s directive, delivered by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, which had dismissed Dr. Ato Forson’s submission of no case.
Dr. Ato Forson had argued that there was no case for him to answer, but this submission was initially rejected by the trial judge.
The Court of Appeal’s decision now upholds Dr. Ato Forson’s submission, meaning he is no longer required to open his defense in the ongoing trial.
This marks a significant development in the case, where Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa, a representative for Big Sea, have been accused of causing a financial loss of €2.37 million to the State in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.
Edudzi Tamekloe, the Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), discussed the recent Court of Appeal decision during an interview on Citi News, explaining that the appeal was filed after the trial court dismissed their submission of no case, ruling that a case had been made against the accused persons.
“What happened is that after the prosecution called their witnesses, lawyers for the accused persons filed a ‘submission of no case’. The trial court dismissed this submission and ruled that a case had been made against the accused persons, requiring them to open their defence,” he explained
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