Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi
The erstwhile Board Chairman of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, has told a High Court in Accra that he is having some disagreements with his lawyer which is being mediated.
The former Minister of Education appeared in court yesterday without his lawyer, Aaron Duke Sasu, and when queried, he told the court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay that “this morning he told me he won’t be present. The misunderstanding between me and my lawyer is being mediated and I hope we will be able to resolve it this week.”
Justice Kocuvie-Tay confirmed receiving a notice of withdrawal from the lawyer, and indicated that “he is a human being and he can change his mind,” adding that “but there are so many lawyers who can represent you.”
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi is before the court together with former Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Solomon Asamoah, for their alleged involvement in the dissipation of state funds in the non-existent $2 million Accra Skytrain project.
They have denied the charges against them and the court, previously presided over by Justice Comfort Tasiame admitted them to bail and as part of the conditions, ordered them to report to the case investigator.
The prosecution was expected to call its first of six witnesses yesterday, but the case had to be adjourned to October 20, 2025, due to an application for stay of proceedings filed by Solomon Asamoah which had not been served on the Office of the Attorney General.
The application is seeking the stay of proceedings pending the determination of an appeal challenging the decision of the court which dismissed an earlier application asking it to order the Attorney General to disclose some documents from the Fund.
He has asked the court to order the prosecution to disclose certain documents which he said were deliberately omitted during disclosure but are crucial to his preparation for defence.
Among the documents he was asking for are all board packs that were sent to members of the GIIF board from 2017 to 2021, along with both signed and unsigned minutes of the Board and Investment Committee meetings that took place during that period.
He was also seeking the complete attendance records for every GIIF Board and Investment Committee meeting within those years.
Again, Mr. Asamoah sought for all memoranda related to the Ai Skytrain project, as well as email correspondence between himself and several members of the board, among others.
But the court, in a ruling, held that the prosecution had indicated that the said documents are not in their possession and since there are other means counsel for Solomon Asamoah can use to procure the documents they are requesting for, the request would not be granted.
Trial
The brief facts indicate that the Accra Skytrain project was to be constructed on a Design, Build Finance, and Operate basis.
“In the memorandum of understanding, GIIF was to be the anchor equity investor and local project development partner to the Africa Investor Holdings (Proprietary) Limited. It was further agreed in the memorandum of understanding that GIIF would conduct due diligence and develop a bankable feasibility study on the project,” the facts added.
A shareholder agreement was subsequently signed on January 9, 2019 between GIIF and Africa Investor Holdings Limited where the later was to transfer 10% of its alleged 100% shares in a company styled as ‘Ai Skytrain Consortium Holdings,’ a limited liability company registered in Mauritius.
The facts added that neither of the accused persons have been able to account for the $2 million.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak