Deputy Attorney-General (A-G) nominee, Justice Srem-Sai has said that he stands by his earlier comment that he saw a memo that was written to former A-G Godfred Dame to discontinue the trial of former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama who has now been appointed Governor.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Wednesday, February 26, he said “I stand by that comment.”
Asked whether he will be able to provide the said memo, he said “I am unable to provide evidence of the memo because of my current status…I saw it from electronic trails of the memo and I saw it in my capacity as a private citizen.”
Prior to his comment, the former A-G had challenged his successor Dr. Dominic Ayine, to provide evidence of a memo recommending the withdrawal of charges against Bank of Ghana Governor, Johnson Asiama.
Dame had insisted that no such document existed and asserted that the decision to drop the charges by Mr Ayine was based on falsehoods.
On Wednesday, February 12, Dr. Ayine defended his decision to discontinue the prosecution against Dr. Asiama, citing a case review that exposed significant weaknesses in the evidence.
He claimed his reassessment uncovered an internal memo from the prosecution division of the Attorney General’s office, which advised former AG Godfred Yeboah Dame to drop the charges due to concerns over the case’s strength.
Speaking to journalists, Dr. Ayine emphasized the memo’s role in shaping his decision.
“My review of some of the cases revealed fatal flaws in the case of the prosecution. A few of the examples are in order. In two of the banking trials ongoing, I took the decision to withdraw the charges against Mr. Johnson Asiama for the simple reason that in the course of my review of the cases, my attention was drawn to an internal memo prepared by the prosecutions division of our department for the attention of the former AG, the Hon. Godfred Yeboah Dame, which recommended that the charges against him be dropped. This is very significant,” he stated.
But speaking at a press conference on Friday, February 14, Mr Dame said “Let me state for the record, that, to the best of my knowledge, no such memorandum exists. I do not recall receiving any such memo from the Prosecutions Division.
“I challenge Dr. Ayine to produce such a memo for the examination of the public as he has touted same to the public at a press conference as the basis for his impugned actions.”
Source: 3 news
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