Tsatsu Tsikata granted GH¢1million bail
Gilbert Boyefio
14/01/2009
Tsatsu Tsikata, the jailed former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, who was recently granted a free, absolute and unconditional pardon by Ex-President Kufuor but has refused to accept it, was yesterday granted GH¢1million self-recognisance bail.
This followed an application for bail pending appeal moved by Emmanuel Danquah, counsel for Mr Tsikata, yesterday, but which was first filed on June 18, 2008, shortly after Tsikata was sentenced by Justice Henrietta Abban to a five-year jail term.
Granting the application for bail pending appeal, the trial judge, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, rejected a plea by a Senior State Attorney, Yvonne Obuobisa, for a short adjournment to enable the Attorney-General's Department to reorganise and file for supplementary affidavit. She also informed the court that the instance application had been overtaken by matters that rendered the court incapable of hearing it.
According to the judge, "justice delayed is justice denied” and therefore refused to grant the prosecution"s request for adjournment, arguing that the case had been pending since November and that the A-G’s office could have filed any application they needed to.
He pointed out that if Mr Tsikata’s appeal succeeded he would be entitled to compensation but when it failed, he would serve the rest of his sentence.Earlier, whiles moving his application, Prof Danquah told the court that the pardon granted his client was contestable in law and should not be the basis for which his client should be granted liberty whiles he awaited his appeal.
The application for bail pending appeal was earlier dismissed by Justice Henrietta Abban, who first sat on it, despite the contention of Tsikata that she was biased against him and should not hear the application.
However, on December 18, 2008, the Court of Appeal overturned the dismissal by Justice Abban and sent the case back to the Fast Track High Court for hearing of the application.
On January 6, 2009, Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor granted Tsatsu Tsikata a free, absolute and unconditional pardon, and prison guards outside his hospital ward were immediately withdrawn. Mr Tsikata has however, refused to accept the pardon, choosing to go through the judicial process to clear his name.
On June 18 last year, an Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Henrietta Abban, sentenced Tsatsu Tsikata to a 5-year jail term for wilfully causing financial loss to the state and misapplying public funds.
He was sentenced on each count, to run concurrently. The court found him guilty on all the counts of causing financial loss of about ¢2.3 billion to the state through a loan he, acting on behalf of the GNPC, guaranteed for Valley Farms Limited, a private cocoa producing company in 1991, and also for misapplying public funds.
14/01/2009
Tsatsu Tsikata, the jailed former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, who was recently granted a free, absolute and unconditional pardon by Ex-President Kufuor but has refused to accept it, was yesterday granted GH¢1million self-recognisance bail.
This followed an application for bail pending appeal moved by Emmanuel Danquah, counsel for Mr Tsikata, yesterday, but which was first filed on June 18, 2008, shortly after Tsikata was sentenced by Justice Henrietta Abban to a five-year jail term.
Granting the application for bail pending appeal, the trial judge, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, rejected a plea by a Senior State Attorney, Yvonne Obuobisa, for a short adjournment to enable the Attorney-General's Department to reorganise and file for supplementary affidavit. She also informed the court that the instance application had been overtaken by matters that rendered the court incapable of hearing it.
According to the judge, "justice delayed is justice denied” and therefore refused to grant the prosecution"s request for adjournment, arguing that the case had been pending since November and that the A-G’s office could have filed any application they needed to.
He pointed out that if Mr Tsikata’s appeal succeeded he would be entitled to compensation but when it failed, he would serve the rest of his sentence.Earlier, whiles moving his application, Prof Danquah told the court that the pardon granted his client was contestable in law and should not be the basis for which his client should be granted liberty whiles he awaited his appeal.
The application for bail pending appeal was earlier dismissed by Justice Henrietta Abban, who first sat on it, despite the contention of Tsikata that she was biased against him and should not hear the application.
However, on December 18, 2008, the Court of Appeal overturned the dismissal by Justice Abban and sent the case back to the Fast Track High Court for hearing of the application.
On January 6, 2009, Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor granted Tsatsu Tsikata a free, absolute and unconditional pardon, and prison guards outside his hospital ward were immediately withdrawn. Mr Tsikata has however, refused to accept the pardon, choosing to go through the judicial process to clear his name.
On June 18 last year, an Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Henrietta Abban, sentenced Tsatsu Tsikata to a 5-year jail term for wilfully causing financial loss to the state and misapplying public funds.
He was sentenced on each count, to run concurrently. The court found him guilty on all the counts of causing financial loss of about ¢2.3 billion to the state through a loan he, acting on behalf of the GNPC, guaranteed for Valley Farms Limited, a private cocoa producing company in 1991, and also for misapplying public funds.
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