Strike out criminal proceedings - Wereko-Brobbey

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 (Page 19)

THE former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana@50 Secretariat, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, is praying the Accra Fast Track High Court to strike out criminal proceedings instituted against him and the former Chief of Staff, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, to enable him to pursue an appeal against the adverse findings made against him by the Ghana@50 Commission of Enquiry.
His lawyer, Mr Alex Quainoo, stated that under Article 280 of the 1992 Constitution, his client was entitled to an appeal at the Court of Appeal because the Commission of Inquiry had the powers of the High Court.
Moving his motion to pray the court to strike out the criminal proceedings brought against his client and the former Chief of Staff and Chairman of the National Planning Committee (NPC) of the Ghana@50 celebrations, counsel held that the rights of the accused persons would be trampled upon if the court did not stay proceedings, as stipulated by law.
He argued that the Attorney-General had the power to prosecute but that prosecution must follow due process.
The accused persons have pleaded not guilty to four counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the State and have each been admitted to a GH¢35 million self-recognisance bail.
The two were charged following the release of the government’s White Paper on the report of the Commission of Inquiry, which recommended the prosecution of the two, but counsel for the two have argued that the charges against their clients raised very fundamental legal objections which they would lead evidence to prove at the appropriate time.
Mr Quainoo stated that the prosecution was using the “back-door” approach to take away the rights of the accused persons by instituting criminal action against them, in contravention of Article 280 (2) of the 1992 Constitution.
That article states, “Where a Commission of Inquiry makes an adverse finding against any person, the report of the commission of inquiry shall, for the purpose of this Constitution, be deemed to be the judgement of the High Court; and accordingly an appeal shall lie as of right from the finding of the commission to the Court of Appeal.”
Section 6 of Article 280 further states, “The right of appeal conferred by Clause (2) of this article on a person against whom a finding has been made shall be exercisable within three months after the occurrence of either of the events described in Clause (5) of this article or such other time as the High Court or the Court of Appeal may, by special leave and on such conditions as it may consider just, allow.”
Mr Quainoo further argued that Section (5a) of Article 280 also indicated that the finding of a commission of inquiry shall not have the effect of a judgement of a High Court unless six months had passed after the finding was made and announced to the public.
Arguing the case for his client, counsel stated that the Constitution had made room for the accused persons to appeal against the commission of inquiry after the elapse of the six month grace period and it was, therefore, inappropriate for the prosecution to “jump the gun” by instituting criminal action against the accused persons.
He prayed the court to either stay proceedings or strike out the case because it was clear the prosecution had not followed due process, as stipulated under the Constitution.
He further informed the court that the issue before it did not require constitutional interpretation, adding, “The law is clear with regard to Article 280.”
He, therefore, prayed the court to uphold due process in order to ensure fairness and further pointed out that his client would not abscond when the matter was stayed to enable him to go on appeal.
The matter was adjourned to July 16, 2010 to enable counsel for Mpiani, Mr Yonny Kulendi, to make similar submissions which would pray the court to allow the accused persons to exhaust their right to appeal against the findings of the Ghana@50 Commission of Enquiry.
On May 26, 2010, the High Court judge designated by the Chief Justice to hear the case involving the two accused persons declined jurisdiction over the case.
Mr Justice Charles Quist explained that his spouse, who is a lawyer by profession, had once worked under Dr Wereko-Brobby when he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VALCO).
The Chief Justice has, accordingly, appointed an Appeal Court judge, Mr Justice Samuel Marful-Sau, to sit on the case as an additional High Court judge.
The two were first put before Mr Justice Marful-Sau on April 22, 2010 before Mr Justice Quist was appointed.
The facts of the case are that Parliament had approved $31.80 million, equivalent to GH¢29.31 million, for the celebration of Ghana@50 from January to December 2007 and the holding of the African Union Summit.
According to the prosecution, the amount was made up of a first tranche of GH¢18.29 million, which was approved by Parliament on July 20, 2006, and a second tranche, which was a loan of $11.80 million, equivalent to GH¢11.02 million, contracted from the Fidelity Bank and approved by Parliament.
It said aside from those sums approved by Parliament, “huge sums of money appeared to have been spent on the celebrations”, adding that more than a year after the celebrations, many projects remained uncompleted and the government was saddled with huge debts.
The prosecution further stated that it was against that background that the Commission of Inquiry was set up by President John Evans Atta Mills to inquire into the activities of the Ghana@50 Secretariat and the entire celebration.
The commission found out that although Parliament had approved GH¢29.31 million for the celebration, GH¢97,776,338.44 had been spent on it, out of which GH¢75,569,563.34 had directly been spent by the secretariat and the NPC.
“The secretariat and the NPC, therefore, spent an amount of GH¢46,999,563 in excess of the amount of money approved by Parliament for the celebration,” the prosecution said.
It further stated that the commission also found that contrary to articles 176 and 178 of the 1992 Constitution, the NPC and the secretariat used all the internally generated funds, totalling GH¢19,352,498.00, without any approval from Parliament.