The third accused in the ongoing ambulance procurement trial, Richard Jakpa, has justified his recording of a private conversation with the Attorney General (AG), Godfred Yeboah Dame.

According to Mr Jakpa, the tape was to serve as evidence that the AG was seeking to prosecute and jail innocent people.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with JoyNews' Latif Iddrisu ahead of Monday's hearing of the case, the businessman insisted that he was not being disingenuous when he recorded Mr Dame.

"When a private conversation leads to committing a crime, it can no longer be private. It becomes a crime against the state. So that private recording is neither here nor there," he said.

• Read also: I believe Jakpa more than the Attorney General – Franklin Cudjoe

This response follows the release of a 16-minute tape by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of a conversation between the accused person and the Attorney General.

According to the NDC, the recording captures Mr Dame allegedly coaching Jakpa on the statements to make in court, specifically targeting the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.

During a press conference on May 28, the NDC’s Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, asserted that the coaching session was designed to influence Jakpa’s court testimony.

Mr Nketia emphasised that the alleged coaching was intended to shape Jakpa’s statements to implicate Dr Forson.

• Read also: Ambulance case: Accused alleges AG tried to get him to incriminate Ato Forson

However, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) insists that the tape has been doctored. The party stressed that the AG also never requested the witness to falsify, fabricate or concoct any evidence or testify in the prosecution’s favour.

But rubbishing this assertion, Mr Jakpa said the onus now lies on the NPP to produce the original audio if they claim that his was falsified.

"They are claiming it is a doctored tape. I didn't say that so they should bring the original".

• Read also: DC’s ‘Jakpa vs AG’ tape has been doctored – NPP alleges

Touching on why the audio was not submitted to the court considering that he had previously brought a similar allegation against Mr Dame during court proceedings, Mr Jakpa said it is a strategy adopted by his counsel.

"My lawyer knows his strategy and he understands the court processes more than I do, so he is doing what is required of him. There must be justice and I am here seeking for justice".

Ambulance trial: AG describes Jakpa’s application as frivolous, vexatious

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General has opposed an application for an order striking out the charges and terminating the proceedings or staying proceedings against Richard Jakpa, third accused in the trial of Dr Ato Forson and one other.

The AG described the application as an abuse of process and unmeritorious.

In an affidavit in opposition, the AG said no proper grounds had been canvassed by the applicant to warrant a grant of that application, which was unknown to criminal procedure and practice in Ghana.

"…That the instant application is a rush and a desperate smoke screen by the applicant to abort his legitimate prosecution for the role he played in causing financial loss to the State in the purchase of ordinary vans purporting to be ambulances," the AG said.

The AG said the application, anchored on "untruths and a skilful manipulation of facts", sought to cloth the applicant with immunity from prosecution and to that extent, "incompetent and offensive to Ghanaian law".