Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Tsikata files motion against judge

July 5, 2008 (Page 19)

THE former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata, has filed a motion at the Accra Fast Track High Court to disqualify the judge who jailed him for five years from hearing his application for bail pending the outcome of an appeal he filed against his sentence.
According to him, the trial judge, Mrs Justice Henrietta Abban, had persistently been biased towards him and therefore she was not qualified to hear his bail application.
“The issue of bias by a judge is indeed a serious matter that is provided for in Article 296 (b) of the Constitution. It is fundamental to the ends of justice that a judge proceed with open judicial mind, untainted by bias which is not the case with Mrs Justice Abban as far as this application is concerned,” a hand-written affidavit in support of Tsikata’s motion stated.
He has, therefore, requested for a mini trial to determine his allegations of bias against the trial judge.
At the court’s sitting in Accra yesterday, the Registrar of the Fast Track High Court informed the parked courtroom that the court would not sit because the trial judge was indisposed.
He, therefore, informed both the prosecution and the defence that he had been instructed to adjourn the case to July 9, 2008 but the case was eventually adjourned to July 10, 2008 after deliberations between parties.
Tsikata, who represented himself, wondered why a fresh motion should be put before a judge who was indisposed.
A brother of Tsikata, Mr Fui Tsikata, who is also a lawyer, informed journalists on the court premises that it was improper for the same judge to be made to hear Tsikata’s application for bail.
He said the trial judge had exhibited too much bias to be made to hear the bail application and further stated that his brother had written to the Chief Justice on the matter.
He also took the opportunity to announce that the Tsikata family had nothing to do with a Prosper Tsikata whom he claimed was going about defrauding hundreds of people.
Mr Tsikata said the family had reported the conduct of the said Prosper Tsikata to the police and wondered why he had not been arrested yet.
As usual, hundreds of Tsatsu’s sympathisers including leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) thronged the court premises to show their solidarity.
The Supreme Court on June 25, 2008 suspended judgement on whether or not the International Finance Corporation (IFC) should be ordered to testify in the case in which Tsatsu Tsikata was accused of causing financial loss to the state.
This followed a request by Tsikata to the court to “arrest” its judgement and invoke its supervisory jurisdiction by quashing his conviction by the lower court.
According to the convict, while waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter, “the trial judge at the Fast Track High Court has embarked on a number of steps in danger of undermining the authority of the Supreme Court”.
Tsikata, who represented himself, said his motion was to enable the court to ensure that the administration of justice was not brought into disrepute by the desecration of justice that occurred on June 18, 2008 (the day of his sentence).
Following his application, the court, presided over by Mr Justice William Atuguba, in consultation with other panel members, adjourned the case indefinitely to enable the court, as well as the Attorney-General, to be served with the motion paper.
Other members of the panel were Mr Justice S. A. Brobbey, Mr Justice Julius Ansah, Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira and Mr Justice S. K. Asiamah.
Before his conviction, Tsikata had prayed the Supreme Court to compel IFC to testify in the case.
His earlier applications at the Fast Track High Court and the Court of Appeal regarding the evidence of the IFC were dismissed on the grounds that the IFC was immune from judicial processes.
Tsikata was found guilty on three counts of wilfully causing financial loss of GH¢230,000 to the state and another count of misapplying public property and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on each count to run concurrently.
Tsikata had gone to the court without his lawyer who, he said, was outside the jurisdiction on the day of his incarceration, and had sought to take a date for the hearing of a fresh motion on notice to take further evidence that he had filed at the court.
The motion sought an order granting leave for the defence to call further evidence in the case and, upon the evidence being heard, for counsel for the parties to be heard in respect of the legal effect of the further evidence adduced.
The former chief executive of the GNPC was charged in 2002 with three counts of wilfully causing financial loss of GH¢230,000 to the state through a loan he guaranteed for Valley Farms, a private cocoa-producing company, on behalf of the GNPC, and another count of misapplying GH¢2,000 in public property.
Valley Farms contracted the loan from Caisse Francaise de Developement in 1991 but defaulted in the payment and the GNPC, which acted as the guarantor, was compelled to pay it in 1996.
Tsikata pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted a self-recognisance bail.
He has since appealed against his conviction, as well as petitioned the Chief Justice, alleging bias and unjudicial conduct against the judge.

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