Court declines to quash Tsatsu's conviction

Friday, October 17, 2008 (Page 3 Lead)

THE Supreme Court yesterday declined to quash the conviction of Tsatsu Tsikata by an Accra Fast Track High Court for causing financial loss to the state.
It also declined to arrest judgement on whether or not to order the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to testify in Tsikata’s case.
The court described both applications as being without merit and incompetent and, accordingly, dismissed them.
The decision means Tsikata will have to continue serving his five-year sentence, while he waits for a date to be fixed for the court to deliver its judgement on the IFC matter.
In less than two minutes, the court, presided over by Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, dismissed the application and informed parties in the matter that the court would file its reasons on Friday, October 24, 2008.
The court, which had Mr Justice Julius Ansah, Mrs Justice Rose Owusu, Mr Justice Jones Dotse and Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie as the other panel members, accordingly directed the registrar to notify parties when the reasons were filed.
Tsikata, who wore a white linen long-sleeved shirt over a pair of khaki trousers, looked calm and indifferent after the judgement had been delivered.
He was whisked away by security personnel in a waiting van which was parked behind the court premises to outwit anxious sympathisers who were waiting for him in front of the court building.
However, some of the sympathisers who had lined up by the roadside saw Tsikata in the van and waved at him with mixed feelings.
His wife, Esther; the running mate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential aspirant, Mr John Mahama; Mr Eddie Annan, a former presidential aspirant of the NDC; Captain Kojo Tsikata, a former Head of National Security; Mr Fui Tsikata, a brother of Tsikata’s, some NDC stalwarts and hundreds of sympathisers thronged the court premises to lend Tsikata moral support.
The sympathisers, who wore T-shirts with the inscription, “Free Tsatsu Now”, openly cursed to express their displeasure at the court’s decision.
Their unprintable words bordered on their dissatisfaction with the court’s decision.
Some, nevertheless, expressed the hope that justice would one day prevail for Tsikata.
Reacting to the court’s judgement, Mr Tony Lithur, a legal practitioner, said, “The desecration of justice has been elevated by the highest court of the land.”
He accused the President of influencing the case, adding that “the President’s wish has been fulfilled”.
Tsikata, a former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), was found guilty on June 18, 2008 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.
He 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 of 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.
He, however, denied any wrongdoing.
Following his conviction by the Fast Track High Court, he filed an application at the Supreme Court, praying the highest court of the land to quash the lower court’s judgement on the grounds that the trial judge had been biased.
According to Tsikata, the action of the trial judge had the potential of undermining the authority of the Supreme Court.
He said he filed the motion to enable the court to ensure that the administration of justice was not brought into disrepute by what he termed as “the desecration of justice that occurred on June 18, 2008”, the date of his incarceration.
The Supreme Court, on July 31, 2008, fixed yesterday, October 16, 2008 for the ruling, after Tsikata and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Joe Ghartey, had argued on the matter.
Tsikata described the attempt by the Attorney-General to support the trial judge’s action as untenable, since she had said that she was adjourning her judgement until the Supreme Court determined his fate in respect of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) testifying for him.
Mr Ghartey said once the Court of Appeal had determined the matter and refused it, the lower court did not have to entertain the matter.
The Supreme Court, on June 25, 2008, suspended judgement on whether or not the IFC should be ordered to testify in the case in which Tsikata was accused of causing financial loss to the state.
That 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.