Reports reaching Daily Guide indicate that KPMG, the reputable international accounting firm chosen by all the parties to count the number of pink sheets used as exhibits in the landmark presidential election petition, has found 13,900 of the documents.

It was unclear as at the time of going to press if the exercise had been completed, but it was likely to confirm the petitioners’ case that they indeed, attached the 11,842 as exhibits.

The Contention

The issues of how many pink sheets were attached as exhibits in the case became very contentious with the respondents insisting that they did not receive all the further and better particulars as directed by the court.

The request to count the pink sheets was initially made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) before the court. With the consent of all the parties in the petition, an order was given by the court for an independent referee to conduct the exercise.

Just as KPMG commenced the exercise in the presence of two observers each from the parties as ordered by the court, the NDC, through its lead counsel Tsatsu Tsikata, came out with a story that the exhibits had been compromised and that the boxes containing the pink sheets had increased from 24 to 31.

In fact, the allegation over whether or not the boxes of the exhibits had been tampered with started right after the court’s sitting on Monday, May 20, when news broke that Mr Tsikata, Tony Lithur who represents President John Mahama and later James Quarshie-Idun representing the Electoral Commission (EC), had gate-crashed the venue for the counting and requested the Supreme Court panel chairman Justice William Atuguba to review the order of the court.

According to Mr Tsikata, there were alleged criminalities involved and as a result, they would prefer an extended control mechanism that would take into consideration copies served on at least two panel members to compare that with the pink sheets at the court’s registry.

The issue of whether the petition was being unduly delayed had come up strongly since Mr Tsikata took over the cross-examination of the principal witness, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who is also the 2nd petitioner.