Daniel Marfo Ofori-Atta, the petitioner at the center of fresh allegations against Supreme Court Justice Yonny Kulendi and businessman Richard Jakpa, says his legal actions are aimed at exposing what he describes as a “criminal collusion” to obstruct justice in the now-discontinued Ato Forson ambulance trial.
According to Ofori-Atta, the two legal processes he has initiated are intended to bring to light attempts to manipulate the judicial process in favour of certain individuals.
In an interview on the Channel One Newsroom on Wednesday, October 1, following his petition to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and President John Dramani Mahama, Ofori-Atta accused Justice Kulendi of using his position to protect Richard Jakpa, who stood trial alongside then former Deputy Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson for causing financial loss to the state.
“Yesterday, I commenced two legal processes. First of all, I filed a petition before the CID of the Ghana Police Service to investigate Justice Yonny Kulendi, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, and Mr. Richard Jakpa, who today has been appointed by the NDC administration as the Director of Operations at the National Security,” he said.
He explained that the complaint “borders on a crime of collusion between the two persons—Justice Kulendi and Richard Jakpa—to undermine legal proceedings and structure.”
Ofori-Atta alleged that when the case began in January 2023, Richard Jakpa was unable to meet his bail conditions. According to him, that was when Justice Kulendi stepped in behind the scenes.
“Justice Kulendi went to the then Attorney General’s office and informed the then AG that he was related to Richard Jakpa and that Jakpa was his cousin and sought to impress upon the AG to do whatever he could to either drop the charges or act in a way that would free Jakpa of the charges against him.”
He further claimed that Justice Kulendi held a series of private meetings with then-Attorney General Godfred Dame in an effort to secure Jakpa’s release.
“It did not only stop there. After securing bail for Jakpa on four different occasions, Justice Kulendi invited Mr. Godfred Dame to his private residence, and under the pretext of discussing a private matter, impressed upon him to also drop the charges against Mr. Jakpa.”
Ofori-Atta’s most startling claim is what he describes as a deliberate ambush arranged by the Supreme Court judge to confront the Attorney General.
“Unknown to Mr. Godfred Dame, Mr. Jakpa had laid an ambush at Justice Kulendi’s house, and in the middle of the conversation, Richard Jakpa appeared. There, they appealed to Mr. Dame to drop the charges against him.”
He stressed that the conduct of Justice Kulendi, when seen in this light, “clearly is an abuse of the judicial process. He violated his judicial oath by interfering in legal proceedings before the court.”
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