Tsatsu Whipped

TSATSU TSIKATA, former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), yesterday suffered yet another blow when an Accra Fast Track High Court dismissed his application on whether or not Justice Henrietta Abban was biased against him during the trial that led to his incarceration.

The application, dismissed by Justice P. Ofori-Atta, was initially stayed by the same Judge for a verdict to be given on an application Tsikata had filed at the Supreme Court which also contained the words “bias”, since the decision of that court would be binding on him.

Not satisfied with the ruling, Tsikata went on to file an affidavit to have the word “bias” deleted from his application at the Supreme Court, and quickly returned to Justice Ofori-Atta to keep alive his hope of a mini-trial against Mrs. Abban, the judge who jailed him.

The application at the Supreme Court was aimed at invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of the court to quash the judgment of Mrs. Abban.

According to Tsikata, he had filed an affidavit at the Supreme Court to have erased, ground (3) of his application, which said Justice Abban showed “bias by resentment, prejudice and personal dislike” towards him in the course of the trial.

In addition, he said no court could compel him to proceed with his submission on grounds that he had served notice of deletion.

The Attorney-General, Hon. Joe Ghartey, told the court that just because an affidavit had been filed did not mean it had been amended.

Hon. Ghartey said Tsikata must appear before the Supreme Court to seek permission from the Judges to have that portion deleted before it could be said that, that aspect of his application had been duly amended.

The A-G was of the opinion that an appeal of the applicant against his conviction at the Court of Appeal also contained issues of allegations of bias and prayed the court to dismiss the application.

Justice Ofori-Atta, in his ruling, noted that the amendment of the application was to be considered by the Supreme Court while sections (L) and (G) of his appeal also contained allegations of bias. He consequently dismissed the application.

Once the application has been dismissed, Tsikata has no choice but to go back to the Judge who jailed him, to have his application for bail heard, but it would be entirely up to the Judge to decide if she wants to decline jurisdiction.

The former GNPC boss was last month jailed five years by Justice Abban for causing financial loss to the state and misapplying public property in a six-year trial.

At the time of the judgment there was an issue on whether the International Financial Corporation should be called to testify in his case.

Tsikata, who accused the Judge of open bias, has been relentless in filing applications for a mini-trial on whether or not Justice Abban's actions amounted to open bias in the course of the trial.

Just a few days ago, the applicant caused a stir when he openly asked Supreme Court Judge, Justice S.A. Brobbey to excuse himself from the panel that was about to hear his application to have the judgment of Mrs. Abban quashed.

According to Tsikata, Justice Brobbey was part of the panel that looked into allegations of interference on the part of Justice Abban, who called Justice S.T. Farkye just in the middle of his judgment leading to the incarceration of the then jailed Member of Parliament, Dan Abodakpi.

By Fidelia Achama