Edudzi Tameklo provides an ‘evolution’ of justices in Dr Opuni’s prosecution

There seems to be no end in sight in the trial of the former COCOBOD Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Stephen Opuni , and his co-accused businessman Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Limited, who are facing 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretences, wilfully causing financial loss to the state, corruption by public officers, and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

The accused persons have been accused of causing a financial loss of more than GH¢271 million to the state in a series of lithovit foliar fertiliser transactions.

Any time there seems to be a break in the case, there is a surprise, which mostly has to do with a change in the justices handling the case.

Following a change in the Supreme Court panel handling Dr Opuni’s ongoing appeal case, the Head of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has given a breakdown of the number of justices who have sat on this case.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawyer started with the first judge for the Opuni case, Justice C. J. Honyenugah, who was handed the case in 2017.

“The case commenced with Justice C.J. Honyenugah. He was then a Justice of the Court of Appeal but was given a warrant to sit at the High Court.

“He couldn’t finish the case until he went on retirement. While handling the case, he was promoted to the Supreme Court. The received learning is that, in a criminal trial, since the liberty of the accused is at stake, you start the case de novo,” he wrote in a post on Facebook on May 13, 2024.

Then came Justice Anokye Gyimah, the High Court judge who took over the case and decided to start all over before he was transferred.

“So, the case was assigned to a new High Court judge, Justice Anokye Gyimah. A very distinguished judge for that matter. This new judge reasoned that in view of the many issues around the case, he wanted to start the case de novo so he could fairly decide on the guilt or innocence of the accused persons. This judge was subsequently transferred to Kumasi and a new judge was brought to the High Court from Winneba,” he wrote.

After Anokye Gyimah was transferred, the Attorney General filed an application for his ruling to be thrown out, which was granted.

“The Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, disagreed with this decision and immediately appealed to the Court of Appeal. The three judges of the Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the trial High Court judge and concluded that the new judge from Winneba should start from where Justice Honyenugah left off. Godfred has won,” the NDC lawyer wrote.

He said that Dr Opuni immediately also appealed the decision of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court.

“This is where it gets interesting. The Supreme Court had a five-member panel with the celebrated Mariama Owusu presiding, with Justices Yoni Kulendi, George Koomson, Kwoffie, and Yaw Asare Darko. This panel then directed the lawyers for the parties to file their respective written submissions and the case was adjourned, usually for judgment.”

Edudzi added that parties in the trial appeared before the Supreme Court only to see that the initial panel had been changed.

The new panel was made up of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo (Presiding), Justices Mariama Owusu, Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Yaw Darko Asare, and Ernest Gaewu.

He indicated that the initial panel had to return the docket on the case to the new panel, which means that the appeal process is likely to start again.

BAI/ ADG

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