Godfred Yeboah Dame has accused the Attorney-General and his deputy of orchestrating what he describes as a deliberate violation of a High Court order by causing the arrest of his client, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, the former National Buffer Stock Company CEO.
The former AG said the arrest at the Accra International Airport flies in the face of a court having granted him permission to travel.
In a statement issued on Sunday, July 5, Mr Dame rejected claims made by Deputy Attorney-General Dr Srem Sai in a Facebook post defending the arrest, insisting the government’s explanation was false and intended to justify what he called an unlawful action.
According to Mr Dame, the High Court, presided over by Justice Achibonga, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, granted Abdul-Wahab permission on June 29 to travel to the United Kingdom from July 4 to July 12 for an appointment with his optician.
He said the court’s decision followed arguments from both the defence and the prosecution, including Dr Srem Sai, and was consistent with previous rulings allowing accused persons facing trial to travel abroad.
“The order of the court was consistent with precedent permitting accused persons on trial to travel in exercise of their fundamental human right to freedom of movement and right to medical care.”
Mr Dame cited several high-profile cases, saying “the record shows that in the recent past, persons standing trial for similar offences as our client – Dr Stephen Opuni, Seidu Agongo, Collins Dauda, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Dr Kwabena Duffuor and many others – were regularly permitted by the court to travel in and out of the country whilst standing trial.”
The former Attorney-General also dismissed allegations that Abdul-Wahab attempted to withdraw money from a frozen bank account.
“The allegation by the Deputy Attorney-General that our client attempted ‘to use false means to empty his frozen bank account with Republic Bank …’ is simply untrue.
“We challenge him to produce evidence of a withdrawal of any sum by our client from any of his bank accounts since the date of the court order.”
He further argued that there was no valid court order freezing Abdul-Wahab’s accounts because the earlier freezing orders lapsed after the withdrawal of charges against his client on May 5, 2026.
According to the statement, when fresh charges were filed on May 15, the High Court at Adentan ruled five days later that “the re-arrest began a fresh process” and implied that “there is no valid freezing order” in place.
Mr Dame therefore described the justification for the arrest as misleading.
“It is thus grossly deceptive and misleading for the Attorney-General and his Deputy to deploy the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to arrest our client based on a false allegation of an attempt to withdraw money from a frozen bank account (evidence of which does not exist).”
He alleged that the incident reinforced concerns about repeated disregard for court orders.
“We consider the development very serious as it confirms our suspicion that the Attorney-General and his Deputy are the masterminds of the frequent violations of court orders by law enforcement agencies and the persistent harassment of our client and other citizens of Ghana under the current administration.”
Mr Dame said his legal team would commence contempt proceedings against the Attorney-General, the Deputy Attorney-General and the Director of the BNI over what he described as “this blatant and wilful violation of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.”
He ended the statement with a sharp criticism of the current situation, declaring: “Freedom, in fact, has become a rare and expensive commodity!”
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
