Renowned and outspoken legal practitioner Maurice Kwabena Ampaw has described the verdict on former Director General of the National Communications Authority (NCA) William Tetteh Tevie and two others by an Accra igh Court as “lenient and kind”.
Lawyer Maurice Ampaw says Mr. Tetteh Tevie and his colleagues deserve more jail terms per the gravity of the case and charges leveled against them.
He wanted each of them to have been slapped with at least 20 years in prison to serve as a deterrent and get everyone in the country talking.
That he believes would have sent a signal to whoever is occupying an office in the current government.
Mr Ampaw disclosed this on Onua FM’s Yensempa hosted by Nana Yaw Opare (a.k.a Wofa), maintaining that Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, who presided over the case, was too humane.
The popular legal practitioner despite lauding the High Court for jailing the culprits, wished the culprits should have been given more years.
He said Justice Eric Kyei Baffour distinguished himself by giving the parties first hearing and made sure the judgement was based on evidence with everything been on record.
He said he harbours mixed feelings but “I am so proud that I am a member of the office of the court and the fact that the judge was able to distinguish himself by given the ruling based on evidence”.
“But I am disappointed in the sentence because someone steals a goat and receives 10 years or more jail terms then we had the opportunity to send a strong signal to politicians and we messed up.”
Maurice Ampaw is of the view that the law is too harsh on the vulnerable but flexible or lenient on the rich and politicians.
Background
An Accra High Court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour on Tuesday, May 12 convicted three out of five accused persons who have been on trial in the case of ‘he Republic versus Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie and four others’.
Justice Kyei Baffour found Mr Tevie, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, the former Board Chair of the Authority and Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a former Deputy National Security Coordinator, guilty of causing financial loss to the state.
The court handed a six-year jail term each to Mr Tevie and Mr Baffoe-Bonnie and slapped a five-year jail term on Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman.
Commenting on the jail terms, Mr Ampaw said Justice Eric Kyei Baffour was too kind and the judgement is not stringent enough to deter others to desist from looting the country.
He was optimistic someone would hastily accept the same $4 million and be jailed for 20 years and use some of the money in sponsoring political parties so that when they win power they would grant him amnesty to end his jail term.
He, therefore, prayed the judiciary will allow the law to be stern and bite harder on the rich and politicians than the poor in society so that duty bearers would be mindful of their deeds in the offices that they occupy.
By Maxwell Otoo|3news.com|Ghana