Samuel Atta Akyea, lead counsel for former National Signals Bureau Director Kwabena Adu-Boahene and his wife Angela Adjei Boateng has declared that he will not appear in court on August 17 while there is legal vacation.
He insisted that he will not compromise the traditions of legal practice because of the Chief Justice’s directive for the case to proceed despite legal vacation.
Atta Akyea on Tuesday, August 11 was not in court despite the Chief Justice’s directive for the court to proceed with the case during legal vacation.
His justification is that courts are on legal vacation and he will uphold the long-standing legal tradition by not attending proceedings during the legal break.
The case has been adjourned to August 17 for the accused persons to produce their lawyers or else the court would discharge the witness and progression of the case.
Justice Achibonga also gave an order for him to show up in court on August 17 or risk having his client conduct the cross-examination of the prosecution’s witness.
Speaking on TV3’s Daily Brief on Tuesday, August 17, he criticised the decision to proceed with the case while lawyers are on legal vacation, arguing that the complexity of the trial requires the accused to be represented by counsel during cross-examination.
“I am not going to court on August 17 at all,” he stated.
According to him, it would be unreasonable for a judge to ask an accused person to proceed to cross-examine a prosecution witness in a technically complex case simply because his lawyer is unavailable.
“Why should a Judge in a very technical case of this nature that a man’s lawyer is on vacation and the Judge is saying that if your lawyer doesn’t come, go and find another lawyer, but he is saying that you come and stand and cross-examine?” he asked.
Mr Akyea argued that a layperson without legal training cannot be expected to effectively cross-examine witnesses in a complex criminal trial.
“How can a lay person cross-examine in such matter? You are asking a carpenter to go and do a surgery,” he said.
He further accused the Chief Justice of attempting to override established traditions of legal vacation governing legal practice.
“I will not violate the traditions of the practice because of the pleasure of the CJ,” he declared.
He further called for a review of the legal provisions governing the legal vacation, saying that if the established practice is no longer respected, the relevant provision should be removed.
“Then, we should delete Order 79 of C.I. 47 so we don’t have legal vacation,” he added.
His comments come amid a dispute over the scheduling of the Signals Bureau trial during the legal vacation, with the court insisting that proceedings should continue despite the absence of counsel.
Kwabena Adu-Boahene and his wife Angela Adjei Boateng have been charged with multiple offences including stealing, causing financial loss to the state and money laundering.
