Tsikata prays court to review decision

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 (Page 3 Lead)

THE former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, has filed an application praying the Supreme Court to review its decision which stated that the judge who sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment with hard labour had not been biased.
Mr Tsikata, who was convicted on June 18, 2008 for causing financial loss to the state, has since been granted an absolute and unconditional pardon by former President J. A. Kufuor.
He has, however, rejected the pardon, describing the former President’s gesture as “hypocrisy”, and has since been granted bail by the Accra Fast Track High Court pending the outcome of an appeal he filed against his conviction.
At the Supreme Court’s sitting in Accra yesterday, counsel for Mr Tsikata, Professor E. V. O. Dankwa, prayed for an extension of time to introduce fresh evidence into his client’s application for a review.
According to the applicant, the trial judge, Mrs Justice Henrietta Abban, had interacted with the executive before convicting him and for that matter there had been an executive interference in his trial.
He said the trial judge’s utterances on the day of judgement pre-supposed that she had interacted with the executive before passing judgement.
The applicant explained that he could not complete his application for review because he was in prison at the time and, therefore, needed an extension of time.
A Chief State Attorney, Mr Matthew Amponsah, did not object to the application for extension of time but opposed Mr Tsikata’s motion to introduce fresh evidence into the case.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice William Atuguba, fixed February 25, 2009 as the date for ruling on the application to introduce fresh evidence.
Other members of the panel are Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, Mr Justice Julius Ansah, Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira, Mrs Justice Rose Owusu, Mr Justice Jones Dotse and Mr Justice P. Baffoe-Bonnie.
On October 27, 2008, the Supreme Court held that the trial judge exercised her discretion properly and lawfully when she refused to adjourn proceedings on the date Tsikata was imprisoned.
“From the record, the applicant was treated equally by the judge without any discrimination. It also follows that the trial judge performed her duty in the application before her with fairness and the requisite degree of candour. In our view, she exercised her discretion in the matter judicially and in compliance with Article 296,” the court declared.
Dissatisfied with the court’s decision, Mr Tsikata filed the application for review.
Before his conviction on June 18, 2008, Tsikata had prayed the Accra Fast Track High Court to adjourn proceedings, since his counsel was not present to move an application to lead fresh evidence in the matter in which he had been accused of causing financial loss to the state.
However, the trial judge declined to adjourn proceedings and, accordingly, directed Tsikata to move his application but he refused.
Mrs Justice Abban then dismissed the application for want of prosecution and went ahead to deliver judgement, which was to have been delivered in December 2006 but had been on hold awaiting the outcome of interlocutory appeals filed by Tsikata.
Tsikata then filed an application at the Supreme Court praying the court to quash the processes which led to his conviction, as well as arrest its judgement on whether or not to order the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to testify in his case.
The court, on October 16, 2008, dismissed both applications and described them as without merit and informed parties in the matter that the court would file its reasons on Friday, October 24, 2008.
Tsikata 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 the offence for guaranteeing a loan 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.