'Dismiss A-G's motion'

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 (Centre Spread)

LAWYERS of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, have called on the Court of Appeal to dismiss the Attorney-General Department's motion for stay of execution of a High Court's ruling which ordered the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to release the passport of Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei.
According to the lawyers, the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Ebow Barton-Odro, misled the court on October 7, 2009 when he informed the court that he had since September 17, 2009 applied for a copy of the ruling and therefore needed an adjournment when on the face of the record, he had not done that.
“That as borne out by an enquiry conducted by our law firm at the Registry of the court below, it is utterly untrue that the Attorney-General’s Department had applied for a copy of the ruling by the court below as at the time the Deputy Attorney-General appeared before this Honourable Court and made statements to that effect,” a supplementary affidavit in opposition to the A-G Department's application for stay of execution said.
The court had, on October 7, 2009, adjourned the case indefinitely but a search conducted by lawyers for Mr Osei-Adjei revealed that Mr Barton-Odro had on October 7, 2009 applied for a copy of the lower court's ruling after he had appeared at the Court of Appeal on that day.
"That the falsehood apparent from the statements by the learned Deputy Attorney-General clearly epitomises the falsehood with which all the depositions in the applicant's affidavit is laced and was a deliberate attempt to frustrate the hearing of the instant application," the supplementary affidavit in opposition to the A-G Department's application for stay of execution said.
The Court of Appeal, on Friday, October 7, 2009, adjourned indefinitely to enable the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Department to receive a certified copy of the ruling of the Human Rights Division of the High Court which refused to stay its earlier order directing the BNI to release Mr Osei-Adjei’s passport.
Mr Barton-Odro prayed the court to adjourn the matter to enable his outfit to receive a certified copy of the lower court’s ruling which refused to stay execution of its earlier order.
Mr Osei-Adjei sued the Director of the BNI and the Attorney-General for the seizure of his passport and described the action as “flagrantly unlawful and a palpable violation” of his human rights.
He sought an order directed at the Director of the BNI to release his passport unconditionally, but the A-G’s Department held a different view and said the detention of Mr Osei-Adjei's passport was on the grounds that the BNI was mandated, under the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act (Act 526), to investigate him.
The court had, on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, ruled that the BNI did not have the power to seize the former minister’s passport, adding that the action violated his fundamental human rights because it did not follow the due process of law.
The court, however, struck out the suit against the Director of the BNI, saying that the functions of the BNI made it a state institution whose acts were carried out on behalf of the Republic and, therefore, was not properly sued.
However, the A-G’s office filed an appeal against the court’s decision and, accordingly, filed another motion praying the court to stay execution of its order pending the outcome of its appeal.
However, on September 15, 2009, the Human Rights Court dismissed the application filed by the A-G to stay execution of the order to the BNI to release Mr Osei-Adjei’s passport to him.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice U.P. Dery, described as untenable the argument by the A-G that if the former minister was given his passport there was the likelihood that he would interfere with the investigations.