Court defers judgement on Tsikata case

Accra, Oct. 27, GNA - An Accra Fast Track Court, presided over by Mrs. Henrietta Abban, an Appeal Court judge sitting as a High Court judge, on Friday deferred to December 7, judgement in the case in which Tsatsu Tsikata, a former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), is charged with causing financial loss to the State.

Returning from her Chambers after she had stood down the case for 15 minutes, Mrs Justice Abban contended that it was proper to wait for the outcome of an appeal before the Court of Appeal filed by the former GNPC boss.

Tsikata has objected to constitution of panel members of the Court of Appeal sitting on his case.

He identified Mr Justice S.Y. Anim, Appeal Court judge, as having sat on a case he (Tsikata) had filed in May 2002. The accused is contesting the FTC's decision not to call the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to testify in the trial in which he has been accused of causing financial loss to the State.

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, a private company, and another count of misapplying public property.

Valley Farms contracted the loan from Caisse Francaise de Developpement in 1991, but defaulted in the payment, compelling GNPC, which acted as the guarantor, to pay the loan in 1996.

Prof. Emmanuel Victor O. Dankwa, Leading Attorney for Tsikata, had told the court that the Chief Justice was reconstituting the panel for a case his client had at the Appeals Court.

He therefore, prayed the Court to defer the judgement until the determination of that appeal.

The Prosecution led by Mrs Gertrude Aikins, Chief State Attorney, said: "We leave this to the discretion of the court" and the court obliged to the adjournment.

Prof. Evans John Atta Mills, former Vice President, Prof. Kofi Awonoor, a lecturer, Mr. Kojo Tsikata, a former Head of National Security, Mr. Peter Nanfuri, a former Inspector General of Police (IGP), were among sympathizers who accompanied the accused.