Former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame says he was denied access to his client, former National Food Buffer Stock Company Chief Executive Hanan Abdul-Wahab, following Abdul-Wahab’s arrest at Accra International Airport, escalating a dispute over the legality of the former official’s detention.
Speaking on Channel One Newsroom on Sunday (5 July), Dame said neither he nor Abdul-Wahab’s wife was permitted to see him after his arrest on Saturday, despite repeated requests.
“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,” Dame said.
Dame also challenged claims by the Attorney-General’s Office that Abdul-Wahab was arrested after allegedly attempting to access funds in a frozen bank account.
Deputy Attorney-General Justice Srem-Sai had said the arrest followed an alleged attempt by Abdul-Wahab to use “false means” to access funds held in a frozen account at Republic Bank.
Dame argued that no valid freezing order existed because the previous order had lapsed after prosecutors withdrew the earlier criminal case 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… and that order lapsed when the Attorney-General withdrew all the charges and he was re-arrested,” he said.
According to Dame, when the state withdrew the initial charges and later filed a fresh case, all orders connected to the previous proceedings, including the account-freezing order and bail conditions, ceased to have legal effect.
He argued that prosecutors should have sought a new court order if they intended to freeze Abdul-Wahab’s accounts under the new proceedings.
“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?” Dame said.
The former attorney general also criticised the decision to arrest Abdul-Wahab after a court had granted him permission to travel to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.
Dame said that during his own tenure as attorney general, individuals facing criminal prosecution including former public officials were permitted to travel abroad after obtaining court approval without being arrested at the airport.
He described the latest developments as an unprecedented restriction on an accused person’s freedom of movement.
Abdul-Wahab’s legal team has announced plans to initiate contempt proceedings against the Attorney-General, the Deputy Attorney-General and the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations, arguing that the arrest violated a valid High Court order permitting his travel.
The Attorney-General’s Office maintains that the arrest was linked to an ongoing criminal investigation involving an alleged attempt to access funds in a frozen bank account.
