Former Attorney-General and counsel for former National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) Chief Executive Officer, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has rejected claims by the Attorney-General’s Office that his client attempted to access funds in a frozen bank account, insisting that no valid court order existed to freeze the account at the time of his arrest.
Speaking on Channel One Newsroom on Sunday, July 5, 2026, Dame challenged the legal basis advanced by the Attorney-General’s Office for Abdul-Wahab’s arrest at the Kotoka International Airport.
Deputy Attorney-General Dr Justice Srem-Sai had earlier stated that Abdul-Wahab’s arrest was prompted by an alleged attempt to use “false means” to access funds held in a frozen Republic Bank account.
However, Dame argued that the assertion was legally untenable because the account-freezing order being relied upon had ceased to exist after the withdrawal of the earlier criminal charges against his client.
“How can one attempt to withdraw money from a frozen account? The point is that it is even incorrect to say that there is an order freezing the account because the order freezing the account was granted over a year ago under the earlier arraignment of Hanan before court, and that order lapsed when the Attorney-General withdrew all the charges and he was re-arrested,” he said.
According to the former Attorney-General, all orders made under the previous criminal proceedings, including bail conditions and account-freezing directives, automatically lapsed when the state withdrew the initial charges against Abdul-Wahab.
“Pursuant to his re-arrest, if you recall, he was presented before court again and there had to be a fresh bail application. In the same way, all the orders made under the earlier arrest also lapsed,” he explained.
Dame maintained that if the Attorney-General intended to freeze Abdul-Wahab’s accounts under the new proceedings, the appropriate legal procedure would have been to apply for a fresh court order.
“If the Attorney-General desires a fresh freezing order, all they need to do is apply. Why doesn’t he want to apply for a fresh freezing order? Why is he resorting to this means of violating the rights of an accused person?” he questioned.
The former Attorney-General also criticised what he described as an unprecedented interference with the right of an accused person to travel after obtaining judicial approval.
“I am surprised the Attorney-General will be doing that. I served in that office. Never once did I authorise the arrest of any person. Never once did I authorise the curtailment of a person’s right of movement,” he said.
Dame noted that during his tenure as Attorney-General, several accused persons, including Dr Stephen Opuni, Seidu Agongo, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and Collins Dauda, were allowed to travel abroad pursuant to court orders without interference from the state.
“There was never an occasion I authorised any arrest at the airport, never at all. What is happening? We live in a different republic now,” he added.
He further disclosed that following Abdul-Wahab’s arrest, neither he nor the former NAFCO boss’s wife was granted access to him.
“I was not granted access to my client. They said they do not work on weekends. So I asked how they picked a person on a weekend and don’t work on weekends. I was there with Hanan’s wife. We were denied access. I don’t know what they are doing to him,” he stated.
The comments add to the growing dispute between Abdul-Wahab’s legal team and the Attorney-General’s Office following his arrest on July 4, despite a High Court order granting him permission to travel to the United Kingdom for a medical appointment.
Dame and his legal team have since announced plans to initiate contempt proceedings against the Attorney-General, the Deputy Attorney-General and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), arguing that Abdul-Wahab’s arrest constituted a violation of a valid court order.
