By; Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
A Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney-General (A-G) Designate, Mr. Justice Srem-Sai says he still stands by his earlier comment that he saw a memo that was written to former A-G, Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame, to discontinue the trial of former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama, who has now been appointed Governor.
Mr. Srem-Sai was asked whether he still stands by his comment on a memo alleged to have been written to former AG Mr. Dame to discontinue the trial of former Deputy Governor of the BoG, Dr Johnson Asiama, and if he would be able to provide the said memo when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
In his response, Mr. Srem-Sai stated that he still stands by his earlier comment on the said memo but was quick to add, saying; “I am unable to provide evidence of the memo because of my current status…I saw it from officials, and I saw it in my capacity as a private team.”
Before his comment, the former A-G at a press conference had challenged his successor, Dr. Dominic Ayine, to provide evidence of a memo recommending the withdrawal of charges against Bank of Ghana Governor, Johnson Asiama.
Mr. Dame had insisted that no such document existed and asserted that the decision to drop the charges by Mr. Ayine was based on falsehoods.
On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Dr. Ayine defended his decision to discontinue the prosecution against Dr. Asiama, citing a case review that exposed significant weaknesses in the evidence.
He claimed his reassessment uncovered an internal memo from the prosecution division of the Attorney General’s office, which advised former AG Godfred Yeboah Dame to drop the charges due to concerns over the case’s strength.
“My review of some of the cases revealed fatal flaws in the case of the prosecution. A few of the examples are in order. In two of the banking trials ongoing, I decided to withdraw the charges against Mr. Johnson Asiama for the simple reason that in the course of my review of the cases, my attention was drawn to an internal memo prepared by the prosecutions division of our department for the attention of the former AG, the Hon. Godfred Yeboah Dame, which recommended that the charges against him be dropped. This is very significant,” he stated.
