The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, concluded his cross-examination of Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the ongoing ambulance trial, at the Accra High Court on Tuesday, July 2.
During the cross-examination, the AG suggested that the first batch of ambulances arrived in Ghana in December 2014. Richard Jakpa vehemently denied this, insisting that the ambulances arrived in 2015.
To support his claim, the Attorney-General presented documents labelled Exhibit AE, which included a letter from Alex Segbefia, the Health Minister at the time.
The letter, read aloud in court, stated that the first batch of delivered ambulances was not fit for purpose.
Despite this, Jakpa maintained that Segbefia had made an error regarding the arrival date.
The AG then directed Jakpa to read Exhibit AC, a letter from Big Sea LLC to the Minister of Health, which confirmed the same arrival date as Segbefia’s letter.
Additionally, it was revealed that Big Sea's ISO certification, which qualifies the company to convert regular vehicles into ambulances, was only acquired in April 2015.
According to Isaac Wilberforce Mensah, spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney-General, this indicates that the suppliers were not licensed to perform the conversion at the time the vehicles were procured.
The third accused also explained that the ambulances brought into the country were not defective as suggested by the Attorney-General.
Mr Jakpa also refuted the Attorney-General's claim that the required vehicles were not supplied.
The Attorney-General contended that the first 10 ambulances arrived in December 2014 and could not be converted into ambulances because they were unsuitable.
Responding to this, Mr Jakpa said that was untrue.
He explained that the ambulances were not fit for use because they were intended to be parked in a safe place for the installation of accessories and training of paramedics.
Mr Jakpa argued that the government cannot conduct a post-delivery inspection on ambulances that had not been officially handed over.
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