I told Attorney General to end my trial because I cannot trust the judge – Richard Jakpa

Richard Jakpa, the third accused person in the ongoing ambulance case, disclosed to the high court on Thursday, 20 June 2024, that, he told the Attorney General (AG), Godfred Yeboah Dame, to discontinue his prosecution because he [Jakpa] cannot trust the judge who is presiding over the case, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, a court of appeal judge sitting as an additional high court judge.

Jakpa made this disclosure during his cross-examination by the prosecution led by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, who had suggested to him that he was on a personal vendetta against the AG because the AG had refused to heed to his [Jakpa’s] incessant appeal to end the trial against him.

In response to this suggestion, Richard Jakpa stated emphatically that he only wanted the case to terminate at the instance of the AG because he [Jakpa] could not trust the judge to decide his fate on the matter, and that, if the judge imprisoned him, the AG would not even pick his calls, let alone to come to his aid.

“I told AG that the case should not get to the end of the trial because I can’t trust the judge. I didn’t want the judge to have the opportunity to decide my fate on the final judgment day. I will now have to appeal from prison and at that point you, AG, will not pick up my call. So I told him that I was going to fight till the last drop of my blood. It was that night that I declared war on him”.

Richard Jakpa also informed the court that he had threatened the AG that for failing time to secure his freedom and liberty during his submission of no case, he [Jakpa] had declared war on the AG, and that, he was going to deal with him [AG] using his underworld skills.

“I told him [AG] and Justice Kulendi that any man who decides to deliberately take my liberty from me can never be my friend till eternity and I told the two of them that the battle lines are drawn. I told AG that I would use my underworld skills to pay him back and deal with him. AG can use his legal skills and so long as I’m concerned there is a war between the two of us. By prosecuting me, AG has caused me pain”, Jakpa boldly told the court.

Richard Jakpa is standing trial together with Hon. Ato Forson, a former deputy minister of finance for willfully causing financial loss of 2.3million euros to the state in the purchase of some faulty ambulances without lawful authority.

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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