The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine has justified has defended his decision to drop several high-profile cases.
At a press conference, Dr, Ayine cited legal and ethical concerns, stressing that his good conscience could not allow him to continue some of the cases.
“For ethical and professional conscience, I couldn’t in good conscience continue to prosecute some of the cases.
“The second was that some of the cases, in my own review and analysis, showed clearly that the charges were defective and some were far against the promptness of commonsense,” he stated.
The Minister added that some of the cases lacked sufficient evidence to warrant continued prosecution.
“The third was that in some of the cases, the evidence led so far showed that there was a reasonable doubt, as to the guilt of the accused persons and no prosecutor should continue to pursue a case in the face of overwhelming guilt regarding the accused persons.
“In most of the cases, I had terminated proceedings, the conduct of some of the individual judges left so much to be desired,” he explained.
Dr. Ayine emphasized that all the accused persons in the discontinued cases had been acquitted and discharged.
Meanwhile, he stressed that his decision was not influenced by external pressure but was in line with constitutional and legal requirements.
The clarification follows criticisms against Dr. Ayine discontinuing the prosecution of cases including the ambulance purchase trial, Ofosu Ampofo’s alleged leaked tape, the Bank of Ghana’s new governor, Dr. Johnson Asiamah’s alleged role in the collapse of Unibank and UT Bank, and the Saglemi Housing case.
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