Attorney General wants Tsatsu jailed for longer

The State has filed a notice of appeal for the five-year jail term handed down to the former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata to be increased.

According to the state, the sentence given by the Fast-Track High Court Judge, Justice Henrietta Abban in June was “not proportionate, having regards to the gravity of the offence”.

The notice of appeal, filed on August 8, 2008 by Ms Valerie Amarte, a chief state attorney, did not expand much on the grounds of appeal but said additional grounds would be filed on receipt of certified true copies of the judgment and proceedings.

The state wants an enhancement of Tsikata’s years for causing financial loss to the state and misapplying public property.

Meanwhile the former GNPC boss had filed his appeal against the judgment by Mrs. Abban immediately after the judgment was read out, calling his conviction “a desecration of justice”.

A few days later he went to the Supreme Court to arrest his judgment which was about to be read on whether the International Finance Corporation (IFC) should be called to testify or not and filed an application seeking the supervisory jurisdiction of the court to have the judgment of Mrs. Abban quashed.

The former GNPC boss told the court that the judge was bias in her dealings with him because the IFC issue was still pending when she read out the judgment and said it was tantamount to complete disregard for the Supreme Court of the land.

Joe Ghartey, the Attorney General, on the other hand said that Tsikata had tried to get an order for a stay of proceedings from the Supreme Court which proved unsuccessful after his IFC appeal failed so if the trial judge decided to give judgment after almost two years of waiting she could not be said to be biased.

In addition, Tsikata filed an application for bail pending the hearing of his appeal but refused to argue it out with the state on the grounds that he had an application pending in another court relating to an alleged bias on the part of Justice Abban in the course of the trial, adding that she was therefore disqualified from hearing his bail application.

The trial judge subsequently struck out his application saying it seemed he was no longer interested in pursuing his bail application.