Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the ambulance purchase trial, has alleged that Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame previously approached him to help build a case against Minority Leader and former Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson in the case.
Under cross examination by counsel for the Minority Leader, Jakpa was cautioned by the trial judge, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe to be direct in his responses and avoid wasting the time of the court.
In response to the judge’s caution, Attorney-General Yeboah Dame accused Jakpa of defending the Minority Leader.
This accusation prompted Mr Jakpa to retort that the Attorney-General seemed aggrieved because he had previously failed to get him (Jakpa) to help the state build a case against Dr. Ato Forson.
“The 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’s box. I don’t understand why the A-G will accuse me of defending A1 when I’m here to defend myself,” Mr Jakpa said in court.
“If he pushes me, I’ll open the Pandora’s box. I have evidence to all this,” he added.
To calm things down, Justice Serwah Asare-Botwe ordered Richard Jakpa to lower his voice and asked for water to be brought to him.
Mr Jakpa however refused to drink the water, stating he was too upset to drink despite accepting the bottle of water.
The judge then stood down the case for a while and called the Attorney-General and Dr Ato Forson’s lawyers for a discussion.
The former Deputy Finance Minister and two others are on trial for counts of causing financial loss to the state over the importation of 30 ambulances.
These were part of a contract between the Ministry of Health and Dubai-based firm, Big Sea Limited in 2012 for the purchase of 200 ambulances.
