{"id":6177,"date":"2024-05-28T10:12:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T10:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=6177"},"modified":"2024-05-28T10:12:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T10:12:47","slug":"ato-forson-trial-ndc-npp-to-hold-separate-press-conferences-today-on-jakpas-claim-against-dame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=6177","title":{"rendered":"Ato Forson trial: NDC, NPP to hold separate press conferences today on Jakpa\u2019s claim against Dame"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will hold separate press conferences today Tuesday, May 28 on the claim made against the Attorney-General Godfred Dame by the third accused in the Ato Forson trial, Richard Jakpa.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NDC\u2019s press conference which is scheduled to take place at 2PM will be addressed by National Chair Johnson Asiedu Nketia. A few hours later, the NPP, according to the flyer, will hold theirs at 4 PM and addressed by private legal practitioner Frank Davies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"693\" height=\"717\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NDC-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6178\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NDC-1.png 693w, https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NDC-1-290x300.png 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 693px) 100vw, 693px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Minority Leader Dr. Ato Forson, Sylvester Anemana as well as private businessman, Richard Jakpa, are standing trial for willfully causing a financial loss of \u20ac2.37 million to the state through a contract to purchase 200 ambulances for the Ministry of Health, among other charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The state has, however, discontinued the case against Sylvester Amemana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is recalled that during court proceedings on Thursday, May 23, 2024, Mr Jakpa fumed at the Attorney-General for accusing him of defending Ato Forson, in his testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"733\" height=\"737\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NPP.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NPP.png 733w, https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NPP-298x300.png 298w, https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NPP-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NPP-75x75.png 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 733px) 100vw, 733px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The businessman, who was under cross-examination by counsel for the Minority Leader, had earlier been warned by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe to be direct in his responses rather than going around it and wasting the Court\u2019s time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, reacting to the judge\u2019s caution, accused Richard Jakpa of defending the Minority Leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This triggered the third accused, who retorted that the Attorney-General appeared pained because he had engaged him to help the state make a case against Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ose-youtube ose-uid-ecebb916af0ec39328e75ab690c1bdf1 ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:400px; height:400px; max-height:400px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\" data-embed-type=\"Youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XninrDPJ1Tw?feature=oembed&color=red&rel=0&controls=1&start=&end=&fs=0&iv_load_policy=0&autoplay=0&mute=0&modestbranding=0&cc_load_policy=1&playsinline=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media;accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;gyroscope;picture-in-picture clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen referrerpolicy=\"origin\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe A-G has on several occasions engaged me at odd hours to help him make a case against A1 and I have evidence for that.. If he pushes me, I will open the Pandora\u2019s box. I don\u2019t understand why the A-G will accuse me of defending A1 when I\u2019m here to defend myself,\u201d Jakpa fumed in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However the A-G\u2019s department said that the Republic has never required or desired the cooperation of any of the accused persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Deputy A-G Alfred Tuah-Yeboah said this while revealing that Richard Jakpa, initiated plea bargaining through several requests to the state through the Attorney-General, Godfred Dame Yeboah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The A-G said the plea-bargaining proposal has, to date, not been accepted. Tuah-Yeboah further stated that Mr Jakpa repeatedly requested to enter plea negotiations with the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement issued last Thursday Mr Tuah-Yeboah, it emphasised that the state has not in any way engaged any of the accused persons to help the prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Republic has never required or desired the cooperation of any of the accused persons in the matter, in which it has already succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against all the accused persons. Neither the Attorney-General nor any officer from the Office of the Attorney-General has approached any of the accused persons with the view to obtaining evidence from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is rather the third accused who, by various letters dated 27<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;April, 2023, 16<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;May, 2023, 30<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;May, 2023 and 12<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;June, 2023, has proposed to the Republic through the Attorney-General to engage in plea bargaining or plea negotiations. This plea bargaining proposal has, to date, not been accepted by the Attorney-General,\u201d excerpts of the A-G\u2019s statement read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Attorney-General has video evidence of the first accused, person, Cassiel Ato Forson, coming to meet him and to plead with him to discontinue the prosecution. This, the Attorney-General has refused to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/uploads.files.3news.com\/2024\/03\/Ambulance-Purchase-trial-Third-accused-Richard-Jakpa-declared-wanted.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will hold separate press conferences today Tuesday, May 28 on the claim made against the Attorney-General Godfred Dame by the third accused in the Ato Forson trial, Richard Jakpa. The NDC\u2019s press conference which is scheduled to take place at 2PM will be addressed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,1],"tags":[950,998],"class_list":["post-6177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-uncategorized","tag-national-democratic-congress","tag-new-patriotic-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6181,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6177\/revisions\/6181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}