Former Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame has expressed disappointment with what he described as the court’s failure to compel the State to return the passport of his client, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, to the court registry.
Speaking to journalists after court proceedings today, Mr Dame explained that the passport had originally been deposited with the court as part of the bail conditions imposed on Abdul-Wahab.
According to him, the court had ordered that the passport be returned to the registry by July 14, after Abdul-Wahab completed an approved trip.
Mr Dame said the passport was not returned because it was allegedly seized by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) following Abdul-Wahab’s arrest.
“The order for the passport to return to the registry was actually given by the court,” he stated.
“If the court is no longer concerned about the compliance with its own earlier orders, I do not have any problem. At the appropriate time, when there is a need for him to travel, we will make an application to the court” he mentioned.
He maintained that his legal team did not need to file a separate application for the release of the passport because the issue, in his view, was the enforcement of the court’s earlier directive.
Mr Dame further argued that the judge acknowledged that EOCO had seized the passport but did not order the agency to return it to the court registry.
“The judge was concerned about the seizure of the passport by EOCO, but failed to order EOCO to return the passport to the registry of the court in compliance with the court’s own earlier orders,” he said.
He added that the Republic should not have to be “policed all the time” and called for what he described as the proper enforcement of court orders.
By: Jacob Aggrey
