Jakpa reached out to Godfred Dame, introduced himself as cousin of Justice Kulendi

20 Jun

Prosecution in the ambulance procurement trial has told an Accra High Court that the third accused in the case, Richard Jakpa first reached out to the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame and not the other way round as testified by the businessman.

During cross-examination on Tuesday, June 18, Director of Public Prosecution Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa sought to establish that Richard Jakpa was dismissed from the Ghana Armed Forces in 2007 due to misconduct and his failure to pass his promotional examinations after several attempts.

But responding to the prosecution, Richard Jakpa told the court that he was simply a subject of victimisation. He asserted that when the New Patriotic Party took over, he was told his services were no longer needed. He noted that he was posted to Sunyani after being tagged a persona nongrata, but was reposted to Accra after an incident with then Minister of Defense Addo Kufuor.

Richard Jakpa also averred that during his attempts on the promotional exams, the military tried to get him out by constituting a psychological board to access his mental state in order to declare him unfit.

However, after their appraisal, the team from Cambridge sent a letter describing the third accused as one with superior intelligence who required mentally stimulating tasks and assignment. He added that there was a report of 25 exams he had taken in a spate of two years from courses in Pennsylvania with an average of 97.8 percent.

On matters regarding how he met the Attorney General, Mr Jakpa indicated that in December 2021 when charges were first proffered against him, he met the AG, then deputy several times at the house of Justice Kulendi but the two did not engage each other as they were not friends.

But when he was granted bail by the court, he was assisted by the Attorney General while on phone with his cousin, the Supreme Court Judge.

Jakpa also admitted that he was the first to reach out and introduced himself to the Attorney General because the AG didn’t have his number.

The prosecution disclosed that the businessman sent 68 messages to the AG but only got two responses. But Jakpa denied, adding that some of the conversations were done orally.

Below is a portion of cross-examination of Richard Jakpa by prosecution:

And by the time the prosecution filed the charge sheet the Attorney General did not know you and had never met you before. You are aware.
I am not aware of that.
Have you met the attorney general anywhere as at December 2021.
I have met the Attorney General in my cousin’s house but I have never had any interactions with him because we were not friends. He was the deputy attorney general then.
I suggest to you that as December 2021 AG did not know you.
That is his claim. I can’t confirm that for his.
The AG also did not know you were cousin of Yonny Kulendi as at the time we filed the charge sheet.
I cannot confirm that because I’m not in his mind. I met him in my cousin’s house and whether he knew I was cousin of Yonny Kulendi I don’t know that.
You are the one who introduced yourself to AG as a cousin of Yonny Kulendi. Is that not, right?
That is not entirely right because I took his number from my cousin Justice Yonny Kulendi and sent him a message on WhatsApp and since he didn’t have my number, I needed to introduce myself for him to know where I got his number from. That is why that introduction.
You have said you sent the AG a message on WhatsApp to introduce yourself to him but that is not indicated on exhibit 10 for A1 (WhatsApp chat in evidence).
It is true I sent him a message introducing myself but that is not here. I admit that I sent a WhatsApp message introducing myself.
You have said that exhibit 10 for A1 does not include your introductory message to AG. Is that correct?
That is correct.
So exhibit 10 for A1 is not the full completent of your WhatsApp conversation with AG.
I presented the relevant portions of the conversation that will make my case. The WhatsApp conversation was between the attorney general and me and he is at liberty to bring the other portion if he feels will discredit what I have out here. But to me they were not relevant.
You sent about 68 messages to the attorney general and he sent you only two responses from the attorney general.
Yes, my Lord. I don’t have the number of WhatsApps sent off head but what I do know and is on his phone and my phone is that he called me and gave me an assignment and I executed the assignment, gave him feedback and he acknowledged the feedback. Prior to that I had sent him a message and requesting for private meeting with him at time and place of his convenience and he responded that he will arrange at my cousin’s house through my cousin. I didn’t suggest my cousin. All the other WhatsApp apart from the evidence he requested, and I gave him in my cousin’s house, the rest are motivational messages.