Prime News Ghana

Tsikata appeals against sentence

By primenewsghana.com
Tsatsu Tsikata
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Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, jailed for wilfully causing financial loss to the state during his time as the CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), is asking for his sentence to be overturned.

He, reportedly, on June 30, 2016 filed a case at the Court of Appeal challenging his sentence on the grounds that the verdict that led to his imprisonment was unreasonable and was not supported by evidence.

In a trial which started in 2002, Tsatsu Tsikata was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on June 18, 2008 by the Accra Fast Track High Court for causing financial loss to the state through a loan that the GNPC guaranteed for Valley Farms, a private cocoa-growing company.

Valley Farms contracted the loan from Caisse Francaise de Development in 1991 but defaulted in the payment and the GNPC, which acted as the guarantor, was compelled to pay it in 1996.

The court found him guilty on three counts of wilfully causing financial loss of GH¢230,000 to the state and another count of misapplying public property and was unconditionally pardoned by former President J.A. Kufuor on his last day in office but Tsikata rejected the pardon and insisted that he would continue to pursue justice in the court of law.

The appeal therefore comes as not much of a surprise.

According to him, the trial judge erred in law in deciding that financial loss had been caused simply because payment of monies had been made by the GNPC and also erred in law in referring to extraneous matter that was not part of the record in her judgement.

“The trial judge claimed that accused was a member of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government, a matter which had no relevance to the case before her and on which no evidence had been led,” he argued.

It was also Mr Tsikata’s contention that the judge erred in law in pronouncing judgement when shBd previously stated that she was awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court on the question of whether the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was amenable to the jurisdiction of the court of Ghana when the decision of the Supreme Court was to be pronounced on June 25, 2008.

"[The] trial judge showed manifest bias against the accused/appellant in the conduct of the trial and particularly, in proceeding to deliver judgement on the morning of June, 18, 2008. The June 18 had not been set for judgement in the case and no notice had been served on the accused to that effect", he added.

He also maintained that the judge erred in law in closing the case for the defence, while there was the pending issue of a witness for the defence being subpoenaed to testify and that the judge erred in law in proceeding with sentencing the appellant after the conviction simply on the basis that no appeal had been filed in the circumstance where counsel for the appellant was not present and the appellant clearly sought to remain on bail till an adjourned date, Graphic Online reported.

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