Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has reaffirmed his commitment to fair and diligent prosecution, stating that he will not initiate cases without sufficient evidence.
“I am not the type of Attorney General who will file a case before finding evidence,” Dr. Ayine declared at a press conference in Accra.
His remarks come amid scrutiny over his decision to drop several high-profile cases involving officials and associates of the previous Mahama administration, including the Saglemi Housing Project, charges against former Bank of Ghana Deputy Governor Johnson Asiama, the Democracy Hub case, and the prosecution of Stephen Opuni in the COCOBOD trial.
However, Dr. Ayine maintained that each decision was based on legal merit and that he takes full responsibility for the outcomes.
“As Attorney General, I take full responsibility for all the decisions so far taken. I am not under any instruction or pressure to discontinue any case or to bring charges against anyone,” he asserted.
He explained that professional ethics and legal standards guided his review process.
“For ethical and professional reasons, I couldn’t, in good conscience, continue to prosecute some of the cases. My analysis showed that some of the charges were defective, and others defied basic commonsense,” he stated.
Dr. Ayine further emphasized that some cases lacked sufficient evidence to justify continued prosecution.
“In some of the cases, the evidence led so far created reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused persons. No prosecutor should continue to pursue a case in the face of overwhelming doubt regarding an accused person’s guilt.
“In most of the cases where I terminated proceedings, the conduct of some individual judges left much to be desired,” he added.
He concluded by stressing that all accused persons in the discontinued cases had been acquitted and discharged, insisting that his decisions were made in strict adherence to constitutional and legal requirements, free from political influence.
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