The Office of the Attorney General has announced that it will strongly oppose an application seeking to delay judgment in the criminal trial of the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, over alleged illegal mining activities in Samreboi.
The application was filed by Samuel Atta Akyea, who recently took over as legal counsel for Chairman Wontumi, requesting that the court defer its judgment to allow him sufficient time to familiarise himself with the case.
However, the Attorney General’s Office says it has filed a 13-paragraph affidavit in opposition, urging the court to dismiss the application and proceed with the delivery of judgment. The affidavit, filed on Thursday, June 25, was deposed to by Senior State Attorney Nana Ama Prempeh.
According to the prosecution, the application is without merit because the accused had legal representation throughout the trial, and the withdrawal of his former lawyer was a voluntary decision rather than one compelled by unavoidable circumstances.
The Attorney General further argued that it is the responsibility of incoming counsel to obtain the case records and relevant briefings from the outgoing lawyer, rather than from the court registry.
“In a 13-paragraph affidavit in opposition deposed to by Nana Ama Prempeh, a Senior State Attorney, and filed this afternoon, the Attorney General strongly argues that the accused person, having been represented by counsel throughout the trial and counsel only withdrawing voluntarily and not for cause, the proper source for a new lawyer to procure the records of and any brief or briefing on the case is the outgoing counsel and not the Court’s Registry,” Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) said in a Facebook post.
The prosecution also contends that Samuel Atta Akyea’s decision to seek the case records directly from the court registry, instead of obtaining them from the previous legal representative, was not made in good faith.
