Supreme Court rules on Tsatsu's appeal today

Thursday, October 16, 2008 (Page 3)

THE Supreme Court will give judgement today in the case in which Tsatsu Tsikata is praying it to quash the five-year sentence imposed on him for causing financial loss to the state.
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 at the Fast Track High Court 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 today, 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.
At its sitting on July 16, 2008, Tsikata told the packed court that he objected to the empanelling of Mr Justice S.A. Brobbey to hear the matter because the judge had conducted investigations into allegations of bias against the trial judge, Mrs Justice Henrietta Abban, who sentenced him.
On July 22, 2008, Tsikata again objected to the empanelling of Mr Justice Annin Yeboah, who replaced Mr Justice Brobbey, on the grounds that the judge was part of the panel at the Court of Appeal which heard his appeal regarding the immunity of the IFC to testify for him.
The Accra Fast Track High Court, on July 15, 2008, stayed proceedings in a mini trial requested by Tsikata to determine allegations of bias against Mrs Justice Abban.
That followed a motion filed by Mr Ghartey on the grounds that the reliefs being sought by Tsikata were the same as another application before the Supreme Court.
Tsikata, however, thought otherwise and insisted that his application before the superior court was different.
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.