The Spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Department, Isaac Wilberforce Mensah, has stated that the Attorney-General met only with Richard Jakpa at the pre-negotiation stage because Jakpa did not have a legal representative.

Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the ambulance purchase trial, claimed that the Attorney-General had previously approached him to help build a case against the Minority Leader and former Deputy Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.

During cross-examination by counsel for the Minority Leader, Jakpa was cautioned by the trial judge, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, to be direct in his responses and avoid wasting the court's time.

In response to the judge's caution, Attorney-General Yeboah Dame accused Jakpa of defending the Minority Leader.

This accusation prompted Jakpa to retort that the Attorney-General seemed aggrieved because he had previously failed to get him to help the state build a case against Dr. Ato Forson.

“The A-G has on several occasions engaged me at odd hours to help him make a case against A1 and I have evidence for that. If he pushes me, I will open the Pandora’s box.

"I don’t understand why the A-G will accuse me of defending A1 when I’m here to defend myself,” Jakpa said in court.

But Mr Wilberforce Mensah said people are missing the point of the AG and Mr Jakpa's meeting.

Speaking on Joy News' "The Probe" on May 26, he explained that the meeting occurred because, at the time of the negotiation, Mr. Jakpa did not have a lawyer.

He argued that pre-negotiation was a usual process in such proceedings and that the Attorney-General did nothing wrong.

The Spokesperson added that the negotiation initially started with Mr. Jakpa's lawyer, but the accused later fired his lawyer.

Since the pre-negotiation had to continue, Mr. Dame proceeded and therefore, cannot be held accountable.

“This particular accused person, in the course of this trial, has changed lawyers about four times. So there were several instances where he did not have a lawyer.

"There were several instances when he did not come to court, and there was not even a lawyer in court representing him, and these are all matters on record.

“At the time the incident happened, he did not have a lawyer,” he said.

Additionally, Mr. Mensah noted that the meetings were held in the home of a justice; therefore, the Attorney-General did no wrong.