In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought by the first defendant in the fake ambulance trial, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, who claimed the charges brought against him by the Republic were flawed.
Dr Ato Forson argued in the Court of Appeal that the charges of deliberately causing financial loss to the state and deliberately misappropriating public property presented against him by the state were flawed for failure to disclose sufficient particulars.
However, in a judgment delivered on 8 June 2024, the court, comprised of Bright Mensah JA (Chief Justice), Bartels Kodwo JA and Amareboba JA, ruled that the appeal “Worthless“.
The appellant, Cassiel Ato Forson, had initially applied to the High Court to have the charges dismissed on the grounds that not enough details had been disclosed to justify court proceedings.
The High Court dismissed the case. After the dismissal, Ato Forson’s lawyers appealed, arguing that:The High Court Judge erred in finding that the particulars of the offences in paragraphs 1 and 5 contained sufficient information as to the specific acts committed by the first defendant/appellant “without proper cause and permission” as set out in paragraphs 1 and 5 of the indictment.
The appeal was set aside for hearing and was vigorously contested by the Attorney General, represented by Chief State’s Attorney Richard Gambiby, who argued that the Republic had discharged its obligations as required by law in preparing the indictment.
He further argued that in drafting the indictment, as required by the Republic, he had in mind only the elements of the crime with which the defendants are charged.
They did so, and the charges against the defendants were therefore properly brought. According to the Court of Appeals, the Republic had analysed the charges against the defendants and concluded that they had been properly brought.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Bartels Kodwo, the Court of Appeal analysed its rules and cases from Ghana to consider what constitutes a proper complaint. The Court noted that in the appeal brought by Ato Forson, what he took issue with in relation to the complaint was the expression “without due cause and permission”.
The court said it was of the opinion that “it is wrong to isolate phrases or words contained in the indictment and claim that those words are ambiguous or do not convey sufficient meaning. It is one of the fundamental rules of interpretation in our profession that a document should be read as a whole while being interpreted.”
With this in mind, the Court found that the appellant’s concern was “Cassiel Ato Forson Between August 2014 and April 2016, payments of €2.37 million were made to Big Sea General Trading Co., Dubai, for the supply of vehicles disguised as ambulances without legitimate reason and authorization, and irrevocable letters of credit worth €3.95 million were issued, deliberately causing financial loss to the Republic.” and “Cassiel Ato Forson In 2014 in Accra, Greater Accra Region, Republic of Ghana, wilfully misappropriated €2.37 million, being public property, by causing an irrevocable letter of credit to be issued from the Ministry of Health budget to Big Sea General Trading Co., Dubai, for the supply of vehicles disguised as ambulances without due cause and authorization.” Not just the word “Without proper reason and permission. “
After examining the charges, the Appeals Court concluded that the charges against the defendants in the fake ambulance trial were:It contains sufficient particulars as required by section 19(2)(d) of the 1992 Constitution and section 112(4) of the 30th Act.“
Dr Ato Forson was represented by lawyer, Dr Abdul Basit Aziz Bamba.
Click here to read the Court of Appeal’s full decision