Executive Director of the Centre for Legitimacy and Rule of Law, Richard Nii Armah, has rejected suggestions that the Court of Appeal should have ordered a retrial for former MASLOC CEO Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu instead of acquitting and discharging her of a 10-year jail sentence handed down by the Accra High Court.
Speaking on As It Is in Ghana with sit-in host Rashid Obodai Provencal on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM Ghana and 92.4FM UK, Mr Armah explained that the state carries the burden of proving criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
He posited that for an offence such as stealing, prosecutors must present compelling evidence rather than relying on suspicion.
He highlighted serious prosecutorial gaps in the case against Mrs Tamakloe-Attionu.
For instance, despite claims that victims of a market fire outbreak failed to receive allocated relief funds, prosecutors did not present a single witness in court to substantiate the allegation.
The former Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) boss was previously convicted on multiple counts.
The High Court sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment on the principal charge of stealing. She also received 3 years and a fine of GH¢36,000 for conspiracy to cause financial loss; 2 years and a fine of GH¢60,000 for substantive financial loss; 3 years and a fine of GH¢24,000 for money laundering; 6 months on each count for causing loss to public property and unauthorized procurement commitments; and 2 years with a fine of GH¢12,000 for improper payment of public funds.
All custodial terms were ordered to run concurrently, fixing her effective sentence at 10 years alongside total fines of GH¢132,000.
However, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision, acquitting and discharging her.
Mr Armah stated that the appellate court rightly concluded that the trial judge committed a grave misdirection by shifting the evidentiary burden onto the accused.
He said forrcing a defendant to dispel suspicion or explain disputed signatures directly violates the constitutional presumption of innocence.
He noted that an accused person’s silence—or physical absence during a trial in absentia—does not relieve the prosecution of its legal duty to prove every element of the offence.
Addressing calls for a fresh trial, Mr Armah stressed that Ghana’s 1992 Constitution strictly forbids retrying an individual for an offence of which they have been acquitted and discharged.
“A person acquitted and discharged cannot be retried because it undermines the fundamental rights of the individual. The government cannot rearrest Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu and retry her for the same offences. Once the Court of Appeal identified fatal flaws in the core charges, it does not matter whether there were 78 or 100 counts—the entire case falls,” he stated.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana