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Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, has stated that the Member of Parliament-elect for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, is likely to face a prison time of 10 years in the ongoing criminal trial.
Tuah-Yeboah, who is the lead prosecutor in the case against Quayson, however, indicated that he is not certain whether Quayson would be jailed.
He explained that it is possible that the judge for the case would find the accused person not guilty or give him a less sentence if he is found guilty.
“I’m the lead prosecutor in the case but I can’t say that I am certain that Gyakye Quayson would go to prison. But everybody wants to win his case in court and so my prayer is that Gyakye Quayson would be found guilty. That is my wish but his lawyers also wish that he would not be found guilty. I have not seen a criminal case in court that is settled it is either the state wins or loses.
“In the event that he is found guilty, it is the judge, who is paid by Ghanaians, who would determine his punishment and not the prosecution. The court can say he is guilty and he should either pay a fine or sign a bond or go to prison and there is nothing I can say about it.
“If you look at the laws of the country, he is likely to go to prison for 10 years because of the crime of perjury he is being charged with. The court can also decide that he should go to prison for 1 day, that is fine and nothing prevents it from doing so,” he said in Twi in an interview on Ark FM, on July 2, 2023.
Meanwhile, The High Court in Accra is set to continue the daily trial of James Gyakye Quayson, the MP-elect for Assin North, today.
On June 29, the trial was adjourned due to the unavailability of all the necessary application documents for a stay of proceedings in the criminal trial of the newly elected Member of Parliament.
The trial judge, Justice Mary Yanzuh, cited the incomplete application as the reason for the adjournment.
This came after Mr. Quayson filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal, challenging the daily trial order issued by Justice Mary Yanzuh.
Quayson’s legal team has argued that several legal errors were made by the trial judge, which they claim violated his right to a fair trial.
The Supreme Court had previously nullified Mr. Quayson’s election as the MP for Assin North on the grounds that he held Canadian citizenship while also being a Ghanaian at the time he filed his nomination to contest the 2020 elections. Consequently, he now faces charges of perjury and deceiving a public officer.
He is facing charges of forgery and perjury about certain alleged offences in the run-up to the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election.
He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury and false declaration for office.
Watch the interview below:
