It is obvious former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, did not monitor the trial of the Montie 3 – Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn, and Salifu Maase, aka Mugabe – at the Supreme Court, thus, his claim that the lawyers for the contemnors did a shoddy job, Mr George Loh, one of those lawyers has said.
Mr Amidu, in an opinion piece released Wednesday August 17, said: “I came to the conclusion that the lawyers for the accused persons did not help the court and the accused persons when they failed or refused to raise all the constitutional and legal defences against the charges and arraignment processes. They led their all-trusting clients to the court to plead guilty to the alleged charges of criminal contempt only to turn round to criticise the court for interfering with the contemnors’ right to free speech because of the magnitude of the sentences imposed by the Court.
“I also take the further view that if the lawyers for the accused persons had insisted on the constitutional rights of the accused person to a fair trial throughout the proceedings, the situation where the ambiguous 1st contemnor called “Owners of the Station – Montie FM” was transformed into Network Broadcasting Company Limited, and Zee Zee Media Limited and each director and officer of the corporate persons hauled individually, arraigned and personally convicted in addition to the conviction of each company would have been avoided.”
But reacting to these comments, Mr Loh told Borley Bortey on 12Live on Class 91.3FM Wednesday 17th August: “Martin Amidu did not follow the case. He only jumped onto the fray.
“He did not listen to the trial, he probably may have read what has been reported [in the media]. If he had paid attention, he wouldn’t be making those points.
“You cannot just go to court and be challenging the jurisdiction of the court. On what basis?”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
