An Accra High Court has has dismissed an application for stay of proceedings filed by the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo.
Justice Samuel Asiedu dismissed the application on the basis that it had no merit.
Mr. Ampofo was praying the court to halt his trial until the final determination of an appeal challenging the court’s decision not to strike out the charges against him.
Justice Asiedu he had already ruled that the issue of whether or not the charges were proper could only be determined during trial when evidence are adduced.
The NDC chairman has declared God will see him through his trying times.
“My hands are clean and my heart is clean. The battle is not for me. The battle is the Lord’s and the Lord will win it for me,” Mr. Ofosu Ampofo declared at a Thanksgiving for the NDC at the Royal House Chapel Sunday as the police investigates him over cases of kidnappings and arson in Ghana.
“The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is investigating various acts of kidnapping and causing unlawful damage in which credible and actionable intelligence makes Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a suspect,” a police statement said in connection with the arrest.
Mr Ampofo who had been on the radar of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service for some time now was arrested whilst visiting heroes of the NDC with the General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia, sources close to the development told Dailymailgh.com.
He was taken to his home for a search as part of investigations into kidnapping allegations against him.
The arrest comes days after Mr Ampofo declined an invitation from the CID to answer allegations of being the ringleader of a kidnapping gang.
What are the allegations?
Mr Ampofo had been fingered in the various kidnappings and fire outbreaks at some markets in Ghana, the police said last month.
The CID, therefore, wrote a letter inviting him to its headquarters on Thursday, May 9, 2019, to assist with investigations.
In the said letter dated May 7, 2019, the CID said suspects have mentioned Mr Ampofo’s name as one of the masterminds of series of kidnappings and fire outbreaks across the country.
Rejection of the invitation
However, lawyers of Mr Ampofo responded to the letter serving notice their client will not honour the invitation.
“Having carefully reviewed your letter against the background of the ongoing prosecution of our client, we are unable to resist the conclusion that your invitation and so-called investigations into kidnapping, arson and other crimes is collateral to the on-going criminal trial, and that its purpose is partly to prejudice our client’s defence.
“Further, our client views the letter of invitation as reflective of an undeniable pattern of political harassment and intimidation which violates his fundamental human rights, particularly his constitutional rights to personal dignity and political association that is devoid of intimidation and harassment. On our part, while we appreciate that every citizen has a constitutional duty to assist law enforcement agencies in the discharge of their mandate, our considered view is that the current invitation constitutes a gross abuse of the investigative and prosecutorial powers of the police as a public institution.
“We take the respectful view that since our client is not under arrest for the alleged offences, he is legally entitled to decline your invitation. We have therefore advised him accordingly,” part of the response signed by a former deputy attorney general, Dr Dominic Ayine read.
Source: Daily Mail GH
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