Alleged bias of Henrietta Abban against TsatsuHigh Court stays proceedings … as requested by A-G

THE Accra Fast Track High Court(FTC), looking into an application of alleged bias leveled against Justice (Mrs.) Henrrietta Abban, has upheld an application for stay of proceedings filed by the Attorney General, Joe Ghartey.

The court, presided over by Justice Ofori-Atta, yesterday, took the decision to enable the issues raised before the Supreme Court to be determined.

According to the court, the application before it has an overall bearing on the request placed before the Supreme Court by the incarcerated former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata.

Mr. Tsikata had requested the FTC to determine whether or not Justice Abban was biased towards him on June 18, 2008, when she struck out his application to adduce fresh evidence into a case of causing financial loss, leveled against him by the state.

However, before the case of bias could be heard by the FTC, the Attorney General filed an application requesting the court to stay proceedings, noting that the same application is pending before the Supreme Court.

In opposing the request of the Attorney General, Tsikata had explained to the court that the application he filed before the Supreme Court was in respect of a ruling that Justice Henrietta Abban delivered on June 18, 2008, in which she threw out an application seeking to adduce fresh evidence into the case, for lack of prosecution.

Even though his counsel had sought a written permission that he would be out of the jurisdiction, while in the present case, the court is to determine whether or not the allegation of bias made against Justice Henrietta Abban holds.

According to the former GNPC boss, the two applications were separate and do not seek to do the same thing, as the Attorney General wanted the court to believe.

Tsikata had further raised issues of incomplete nature of the application filed by the Attorney General, which had been set before the court for adjudication, stressing that the application lacked the legal merit.

Tsikata was convicted after six years of trial on a five years imprisonment, on three counts of causing financial loss to the state and on one count of wilfully misapplying public property by guaranteeing a loan of 5.5 million French Francs, from Caisse Francaise de Developement, a French company, to Valley Farms, a limited liability company.

He was further accused of using a total amount of ¢20million (old cedis) belonging to GNPC, to acquire shares in the French company when he was in office.

It was the case of the prosecution that Valley Farms, subsequently defaulted in the payment of the loan as a result of which GNPC settled the debt, when it was requested to do so.

The judgement was given at a time when Tsikata had sought through an application filed before the court, to adduce fresh evidence but the application was thrown out for lack of prosecution, debarring a permission written by counsel for Tsikata that he would be out of the jurisdiction.

Tsikata has therefore noted that the trial Judge did not accord him the rights enshrined under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.