IFC could sue and be sued

Accra, Dec. 6, GNA - A Chief State Attorney on Wednesday contended that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) could sue and be sued when special pre-conditions had been fulfilled.

"If they go to court without a waiver, it would be a violation of the Agreement," Mrs Gertrude Aikins said.

Mrs Aikins, who led a team of Prosecutors was responding to submissions made at the Court of Appeal earlier by Prof. Emmanuel Victor O. Dankwa, lead Attorney for Tsatsu Tsikata, a Former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

Panel members of the Court of Appeal are Mr Justice S.E. Kanyoke (Presiding), Mr Justice F. Kusi-Appiah and Mr Justice Annin Yeboah. Prof. Dankwa has filed a substantive appeal on behalf of Tsikata, the Appellant-Applicant, asking the Court of Appeal to order the IFC to testify and produce documents about the Valley Farms Project. Mrs Aikins said if the Country Director of IFC testified at the lower court, he/she would be compromising his/her official acts. The Country Director could not give evidence about the transaction while there was immunity in respect of his/her official acts being compromised, she said.

According to her, the Country Director had no burden to produce evidence, to satisfy the Court on any preliminary facts under the Evidence Decree.

Mrs Aikins noted that the action of immunity was a legal matter and that the Country Director was covered by immunity, adding that the APDF Consultants and other officials could also not be part of the legal process.

She said the Country Director could not testify about acts and reports of the APDF officials, who worked on the project. "The conduct of the trial judge was covered by sub-section 3 of section 3 of the Evidence Decree.=94

Mrs Aikins stressed that the trial judge applied the rule of law and, therefore, did not err when she ruled that the records of IFC on Valley Farms were in the archives and that those documents that were to be tendered were dealt with almost 20 years earlier.

The Chief State Attorney averred that the trial judge did not err in failing to appreciate that no violation of archives of the IFC could be occasioned by an order of the Court for the Country Director to provide testimony and produce documents in respect of the IFC in the Valley Farms Project.

She prayed the Court: "The appeal must be dismissed". Tsikata is charged with three counts of wilfully causing financial loss of 2.3 billion cedis to the State through a loan he, on behalf of GNPC, guaranteed for Valley Farms and another count of misapplying public property.

Valley Farms contracted the loan from Caisse Fran=E7aise de Developpement in 1991 but defaulted in the payment, compelling GNPC, which acted as the guarantor, to pay it in 1996. The Court adjourned to December 19 for ruling.