Businessman Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the ambulance procurement trial, says that his cousin did nothing out of the ordinary when he used his influence to bail him after his arrest.

According to him, his cousin, Justice Yonny Kulendi, was merely seeking justice and ensuring that he [Jakpa] was treated fairly.

"Yes, of course, he was seeking justice; he wanted justice to be done. He was seeking justice; he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary," Mr Jakpa said.

“...All that he did was that his family member was being treated unfairly and it is his right to seek justice,” he said in an exclusive interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Wednesday, July 3.

Mr Jakpa explained that he received the harshest bail conditions among the accused persons, claiming also that although he met the bail conditions, the investigator attempted to use administrative tactics to incarcerate him.

"I was given the harshest bail conditions—5 million, three sureties, one to be justified with property of that amount. I met the conditions, but they employed administrative tactics to put me behind bars. I felt it was unfair that they needed the Lands Commission to revalue the property even though it had already been valued," Mr Jakpa said.

He continued, "I wasn’t the only person given bail conditions. Ato Forson was given a 3 million bail bond, self-recognisance bail; he went to sign and walked away.

"Anemana was given a property worth 1 million; he also came with the same document—they didn’t tell him that they were going to the Lands Commission for re-evaluation. It was admitted, and he walked away. I was the only person singled out, with my case going to the Lands Commission for re-evaluation, which would take a week."

In light of this, Mr Jakpa said he called his cousin, Justice Yonny Kulendi, to complain that he had met the bail conditions but the investigator was using administrative tactics to detain him for about a week.

“So I was there when EOCO took me from the court to the ministries police station - they started doing their entries to put me in. So while they were doing the processing, my phone rang, and when I picked it up, it was my cousin - he said he was with the Attorney General so I should talk to him. So the Attorney General said “My brother don’t worry, we will sort this thing out, tell the investigator to take you back to court and they will accept the bail condition,” he said.

Following this intervention, Mr Jakpa said the investigator took him back to court, and his bail conditions were accepted.