Prosecution opposes bail for Abodakpi

The Court of Appeal will on November 1 give its ruling on an application for bail for Mr. Dan Abodakpi, the convicted Member of Parliament for Keta, brought before it by Mr Tony Lithur.

The court fixed the date on Thursday after listening to submissions by Mrs Gladys Gertrude Aikins, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Mrs Aikins told the three-member panel chaired by Mr B.T. Aryeetey, with Mr Justice Marful Siaw and Mrs Justice Mariama Owusu as members, that the application for bail was misconceived.

The Acting DPP submitted that since Abodakpi was properly tried and convicted by a court, there was no point in law that his bail application be considered and therefore prayed the court to dismiss it.

She further submitted that there was more than enough evidence in the record of proceedings to substantiate his conviction and imprisonment.

Mrs Aikins drew the court's attention to the fact that the record of proceedings from that court was not before the Court of Appeal and for that matter it ought not to entertain the bail application.

She, therefore, prayed the court to dismiss the application and fix a date for the hearing of the substantive application, which is seeking to challenge the February 5 judgment of Justice Stephen Farkye, who has now retired.

At the court's sitting on October 11, Mr Lithur submitted that the judgment delivered by the Accra Fast Track High Court on February 5 this year that convicted and imprisoned his client constituted miscarriage of justice.

This, counsel said, was because in his view, the trial court relied solely on the prosecution's case to convict his client and never considered the side of the defence.

Abodakpi was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on charges of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and willfully causing financial loss of an amount of $400,000 to the state.