Ato Forson Denies Applying For Plea Bargain In Ambulance Case

The Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Esiam constituency, Cassiel Ato Forson, has denied filing an application for a plea bargain in his ongoing ambulance court case.

Plea bargains are agreements between defendants and prosecutors in which defendants agree to plead guilty to some or all of the charges against them in exchange for concessions from the prosecutors, the US Department of Justice defines.

Cassiel is standing trial for allegedly causing financial loss to the country in the purchase of some ambulances during his tenure as Deputy Finance Minister of Ghana under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

It was reported on Thursday that he had filed a plea bargain but he denies it and calls it “malicious”.

A statement released by one of his lawyers, Godwin Kudzo Tameklo, said the publication is “without any factual basis and merely an attempt to court public disaffection for the person of Hon. Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.”

“The Hon. Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has not applied to the Honorable Court or the Attorney General Department for a plea bargain or any out-of-court settlement of the pending charges being prosecuted against him. Indeed, the record would show that the Honorable Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has opened his defence in the trial and has since called some of his witnesses.”

Ato Forson is standing trial with Sylvester Anemana, a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, and Richard Jakpa, a businessman, for allegedly causing financial loss of €2.37 million to the state in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016, Graphic reports.

They are facing five counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment to willfully cause financial loss to the state, contravention of the Public Procurement Act and intentionally misapplying public property.

They have pleaded not guilty to all the charges.