Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Minority Leader, has asked the judge presiding over his criminal prosecution to remove herself due to claimed bias.
The former Deputy Finance Minister, who is on trial for creating financial damage to the state, claims the court, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, was biased in approving his plea to invite some witnesses.
On June 21, 2023, his lawyers asked the court to summon former Health Minister Alex Segebfia, former Budget Director at the Ministry of Health Patrick Nimo, and former Controller and Accountant General Seidu Kotomah, who have been unable to appear in court to testify despite the fact that some have filed witness statements on his behalf.
On the day of the motion, his lawyer, Aziz Bamba, apologised for not gaining the presence of their second witness, Seidu Kotomah, as efforts to get a witness to appear in court were futile.
Before granting the request, the Judge warned his counsel that the decision to compel witnesses might result in an arrest warrant being issued if the witness does not comply with the summons.
His attorneys, on the other hand, filed the summons motion, which was later approved.
However, according to Dr Cassiel Ato Forson’s appeal for a rejection of the judge, the statements were “highly prejudicial, presented in the form of a caution that was premature and lacked any factual basis.”
He contends that if a witness fails to appear for a witness summons, they should not be “arrested without an inquiry,” but rather the court should determine if the absence is “wilful and without any reasonable excuse.”
According to him, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe’s emphasis on the possibility of an arrest warrant if the witnesses failed to appear in court has “unsettled and irritated” the witnesses as a result of media reports on the judge’s statements.
He claims that the witnesses have been portrayed as “common criminals and unpatriotic citizens who will wilfully disobey a witness summons issued by the court.”
The Minority Leader also claims that the trial judge’s decision to revise the case completion plan and have two of his witnesses testify on the same day violated his right to a fair trial under Article 19, which requires him to be given adequate time and facilities to prepare his defence.
In the motion, Dr Ato Forson claims, “the trial judge appears hostile to my case and is rushing to judgement, such that it has become clear to me that I would not be given adequate time and facilities to prepare my defence.”
As a result, he requests that the judge stop the proceedings and disqualify herself from hearing the matter further.
Meanwhile, the application that was scheduled to be heard on July 12 was postponed because the judge revealed that the Minority Leader’s attorneys had also petitioned the Chief Justice to assign the matter to a different judge.
The trial judge has so deferred the case until July 27 in the expectation that the Chief Justice’s judgement, which will decide the next actions to be done, will be known by then.
