Minority Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Casiel Ato Forson, has fired back at the Attorney General for what he believes is a sinister plot to needlessly tarnish his reputation and rob him of his liberty.
According to him, the move by the Akufo-Addo led Government is calculated to silence him over his relentless opposition to the Government’s poor economic policies and in particular, the proposed Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).
The Deputy Attorney-General, Diana Asonaba Dapaah, issued a statement on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 where she mentioned that a number of high profile persons from the erstwhile administration of President John Mahama, including Casiel Ato Forson had been under investigation before the 2022 Budget was read.
The statement therefore indicated that, it could not be said that Government is deliberately pursuing this case for any ulterior motives.
“Same (investigations) had been ongoing since 2017 with a number of statements taken from various persons at different points in time, including the Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, former Minister for Health (now Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana), Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, Madam Sherry Ayittey and Dr. Alex Segbefia, all former Ministers for Health as well as the first accused.
“Investigations into the ambulance purchase contract are being finalized by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service for the commencement of criminal proceedings against persons deemed fit for prosecution.
“Further statements were taken from various persons. At that stage, no issue relating to the 2022 Budget and Economic Policy of the Government had come up.
“All persons in Ghana are equal before the law. The status of a Member of Parliament is no bar to prosecution for a crime committed,” according to the statement,” the statement said.
However, in a Press release issued on Thursday, January 6, 2022, the Ranking Member and Member of Parliament for the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency, insists that the move by Government is to engineer a deliberate political prosecution against him.
Below are excerpts of the statement by Cassiel Ato Forson in response to the AG.
“I have noted a statement issued by a Deputy Attorney General claiming that by speaking out against the malice and deliberate political persecution inherent in the decision to prosecute me, I am exposing the Attorney General to “hate” and “prejudice”.
“I wish to state that the Attorney General’s office cannot determine my reaction to the sinister plot to needlessly tarnish my reputation and rob me of my liberty simply because I remain implacably opposed to the poor economic policies of this government and in particular the E-Levy.
‘It is the Attorney General who is driven by hate, prejudice and demagoguery! He is the one abusing his prosecutorial powers to silence critical political opponents.
“For instance on Paragraph 7 of the AG’s statement issued yesterday, it was claimed that;
“As stated in the facts of the case filed in court on 22nd December, 2011, cabinet endorsed an executive approval of a joint memorandum submitted to cabinet by the then Minister for Health and the first accused Cassiel Ato Forson, then Deputy Minister for Finance, for the purchase of 200 ambulances out of a medium term credit facility of €15,800,000 between Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited and the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance.”
“For the avoidance of doubt , the Cabinet memo for the purchase of the Ambulances was submitted in December,2011. I became a Deputy minister on the 2nd of May 2013. How could I have signed a cabinet MEMO in December 2011?”
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
