Ambulance Trial: ‘Justice Asare-Botwe may be one of the biggest losers in this case’ – Kweku Azar
A US-based Ghanaian lawyer and scholar, Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare, has asserted that the judge who presided over the case of Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Justice Afia Asare-Botwe, is perhaps one of the biggest losers in the case, following its dismissal by the Court of Appeal.
Justice Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge with additional High Court duties, dismissed a submission of no case by Ato Forson, whom the state has accused of causing financial loss in the purchase of 200 ambulances together with his co-accused, businessman Richard Jakpa.
However, the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, ruled that the High Court presided over by Justice Asare-Botwe erred in its decision to dismiss the submission of no case by the accused persons.
The court, by a 2-1 split decision, reverted the judgement of the High Court and went ahead to acquit and discharge Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa.
Reacting to this, in a post shared on Facebook, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, Prof Kwaku Asare, who is widely known as Kwaku Azar, indicated that the ruling of the Court of Appeal may reflect poorly on Justice Asare-Botwe.
“If the CoA is believed, then Justice Afia Asare-Botwe may be one of the biggest losers in this case,” he wrote.
In replying to a comment under his post, Kwaku Azar said that the Court of Appeal judges, in their judgement, made the point that the High Court should have dismissed the case in the first place.
“They are saying no reasonable court that is interested in justice would have concluded that the defendants had a case to answer,” he said.
Background:
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 decision, acquitted and discharged Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa in the ambulance case.
The ruling overturned a trial court order requiring them to present their defence for allegedly causing a financial loss of €2.37 million to the state in procuring ambulances for the government.
While Justice Alex Poku Acheampong dissented, Justices Kweku Tawiah Ackah-Boafo and Philip Bright Mensah ruled in favour of the accused.
View Kwaku Azar’s post below:
ghanaweb.com
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