The Attorney General, Gloria Akufo only wishes to make a scapegoat out of the Kumasi State Attorney who provided advice for the freeing of the Delta Force 8 by a Kumasi Circuit Court.
This is according to a member of the opposition NDC Legal Team, Abraham Amaliba.
His comments follow reports that the state prosecutor, Marie- Louise Simmons has been summoned to Accra by the Attorney General over the issue.
“I think that the Attorney General is looking for a scapegoat and she is trying to use Marie Louise, her representative in Kumasi. Infact all dockets were suppose to be forwarded to the Attorney General in Accra. You can imagine how long it will take for the matter to commence and end so she took the decision based on the evidence available to her at the time.
“I am shocked that the Attorney General in Accra is requesting that her representatives in Accra should have had recourse to her before taking the next step. Not to talk of the Attorney General who knows very well that this is a public interest matter, to have called for the docket, knowing very well that as the leader of the bar, she, would go down in victory as the person under whose tenure the court was attacked. I expected her to have shown interest in the matter and if need be rather call for the docket and change the docket but she slept on the duty and I don’t think it will be fair to use Marie Louise, her representative in Kumasi as the scape goat. That will not be fair.”
Meanwhile lawyer for the eight has insisted that his clients cannot be re-arrested.
The lawyer, Mathew Appiah’s comment comes on the back of several calls from especially members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for a possible re-arrest and re-trial of the court raiders who were freed for lack of evidence.
Mr. Appiah in a Citi News interview said the Attorney General cannot overturn the earlier decision of the State Attorney in Kumasi because he acted lawfully.
The eight Delta Force members were standing trial for vanderlising a Kumasi court and in the process setting free some of their members who were charged for assaulting the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator.
The Principal State Attorney in the case, Marie Louise-Simmons, who is the representation of the Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, in her reply to a letter from the prosecutor for her legal opinion on the case, said the charges against the suspects must be dropped because there was insufficient evidence against them.
The court, presided over by Her Honour, Patricia Amponsah, subsequently discharged the accused and dismissed the case.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
