The third accused in the ongoing ambulance trial, Richard Jakpa, has petitioned the Chief Justice to remove the judge handling the case.
Mr Jakpa, the businessman at the centre of the controversial audio conversation with Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, is convinced he will not get justice with Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe presiding over the case.
In his petition, Mr Jakpa stated that he would not get a fair trial based on the trial judge’s decisions throughout court proceedings.
“Her Ladyship has continuously complained regarding the present case, asserting that this High Court does not belong to her and, consequently, feels uncomfortable occupying it.
“This discomfort poses a significant inconvenience to the substantive High Court judge, in whose court she is temporarily presiding. Moreover, now that she has been promoted as an Appeal Court Judge, she is burdened with a substantial workload that has accumulated unexpectedly since her promotion.
“Consequently, it is imperative for her to conclude this case promptly and redirect her focus to her duties within the Appeal Court. Her Ladyship insisted that all defence lawyers representing the accused must collectively utilize a single day to cross-examine each of the five witnesses presented by the Attorney General (AG).
“She firmly opposed the idea of the AG’s witnesses coming back multiple times, disrupting the flow of cross-examination for the defence. This circumstance forced my lawyer to hurriedly pose questions and impeded his ability to thoroughly look through voluminous documents within the allocated time.
“The AG’s witnesses exhibited a clear tendency of evading and intentionally consuming my lawyer’s limited time, thus hindering his ability to address pertinent matters crucial to my defence. She is currently enforcing the same strategy of denying adequate time to put up a good defence by rushing the proceedings at neck speed even with the defence witnesses,” he said in his petition.
Therefore, he wants Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo to transfer the case to a different, impartial, composed, and fair-minded judge.
The businessman, Mr Jakpa, is standing trial with Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson for causing the state a €2.3 million loss in an ambulance deal.
The accused persons are to answer five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act, and intentionally misapplying public property.