Chronicle Three In Court Tomorrow

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S Department will tomorrow attempt to establish that the National Democratic Congress's (NDC's) missing ?100 million from the residence of Dr. Obed Asamoah, Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, is of interest to the State and people of Ghana.

Mr. Anthony Gyambiby, a Senior State Attorney, representing the A-G in the case in which the A-G is seeking to have the Editor of the Ghanaian Chronicle, Mr. Ebo Quansah, and two of his reporters jailed for contempt of court, made known this intention at the last sitting on the case at an Accra Regional Tribunal late last month.

His contended that by virtue of the national characteristics of political parties, the public and State have interest in them. Gyambiby was replying to a submission by Counsel for the Chronicle, Mr. Emmanuel Ohene, that the Tribunal which is hearing the case, lacks jurisdiction to do so. Ohene said the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to entertain the original charges against Fidelis Kwame Yebbi and Anthony Kwesi Avalifo, former police bodyguards of the A-G, standing trial for the alleged ?100 million theft.

The hearing of the case by the Tribunal, Ohene contended, is therefore illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and any case flowing from that trial, such as the contempt charges against the three respondents, is equally unlawful, and therefore unconstitutional, null and void. This is because the Constitution and the Courts Act of 1993 have not vested regional tribunals with jurisdiction to entertain cases which do not affect the State or public interest.

Counsel also argued that since the missing millions do not benefit all Ghanaians, it fell short of the definition of public interest, and it would only have qualified according to the legal definition, if it enures to the benefit of the whole society. The case opened on March 2, this year, when Gyambiby asked the Tribunal to jail the three journalists for allegedly misreporting the trial of Yebbi and Avalifo in a story headlined, "OBED'S DEN OF GIRL FRIENDS... Court Told Of Regular Women Visitors To A-G's Home."

Gyambiby argued that the said publication was intended to destroy the A-G's credibility. The Tribunal must, therefore, jail the respondents, he said, contending that an apology or lack of intention to commit contempt, should only mitigate the jail sentence. He had earlier told the Tribunal that the alleged contemnors had earlier on been restrained after similar complaints by the prosecution.

But at the next sitting, defence applied for a copy of the Tribunal's record of proceedings claiming the defendants were unaware of any restraining order against them as stated by both applicant and complainant respectively in the case, the A-G and BNI Chief Inspector, Frank Agbeyengah. Opening defence statement at the next adjourned hearing, Defence Counsel charged the A-G and Agbeyengah of 'falsely, deliberately and maliciously' cooking affidavits to have Quansah imprisoned and asked that they be cited for perjury by the Tribunal.

His perjury charge call, he argued, was informed by the fact that apart from the affidavits being wrongly dated, they contained false information that Quansah was brought to the Tribunal in person and was warned and restrained. Quansah, he submitted, had never been invited or brought to court as alleged by the prosecution in their affidavits. Instead, it was the two reporters. Messrs Ken Ampong and Sani Siddiq, who were invited and were in court according to the record of proceedings, he said.