NDC National Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, has accused Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame of breaching legal ethics by directly contacting the 3rd accused person in the ongoing ambulance procurement trial, Richard Jakpa.
Sammy Gyamfi argued on the Citi Breakfast Show on May 24, that the Attorney-General as the leader of the bar knows the rules of engagement yet exploited the third accused person. He said as a represented person, the Attorney-General has no business contacting him directly, adding that any contact must be made through his lawyers.
“Godfred Dame knows as the leader of the bar that our works as lawyers are governed by ethics. Rule 13 of our ethics says that a lawyer cannot communicate with a represented third party in a case directly. Bernard, if you go to court and you are presented by a lawyer, the only way another lawyer can communicate with you is through your lawyer.”
The NDC Chief Communicator said in practice, an accused person is presumed oblivious of the law thus making it a case of exploitation when a lawyer contacts you.
“Because you are presumed not to know the law and if a lawyer engages you, it means he has taken advantage of you. It is a disconnect to engage with a third party without going through his lawyer,” Sammy Gyamfi explained.
Sammy Gyamfi’s reaction came after heated exchanges between the involved parties due to Richard Jakpa’s outburst in court on May 23. The third accused in response to the accusation by the Attorney-General that he was defending A1, Cassiel Ato Forson, reacted angrily and threatened to expose the A-G.
Richard Jakpa told the open court that he had received calls from the Attorney-General at ungodly hours trying to influence him to implicate the former Deputy Finance Minister.
However, the A-G has denied the claims, stating that though the laws of Ghana permit plea bargaining, the A-G’s office never tried to reach an agreement with the third accused. According to the A-G, the third accused person rather wrote multiple letters seeking plea bargaining which the A-G has not accepted.
Additionally, the A-G said A1 attempted to get the state to discontinue the case. A statement released by the Attorney-General said there is video evidence of the Minority Leader begging for the case to be dropped.
