James Gyekye Quayson
AN ACCRA High Court has issued a criminal summons on the embattled Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, to appear before it to face the charges of perjury and deceit of public officer, among others, leveled against him by the Attorney General.
The court, presided over by Justice Mary Nsenkyire, issued the criminal summons after the MP failed to appear for the trial despite efforts by court bailiffs and the case investigator to serve him with the charge sheet of the case.
The prosecution had pushed for a bench warrant for the arrest of the embattled MP but the court instead issued the criminal summon on the lawmaker.
Criminal Proceeding
The Office of the Attorney General charged him with deceit, forgery and other criminal offences for misleading public officers.
The offences relate to the MP’s activities in the run up to the 2020 parliamentary election which he won.
A Cape Coast High Court last year found that the MP is holding both Ghanaian and Canadian citizenships.
The court was able to determine that as at the time of filing his nomination to contest the 2020 parliamentary election in Assin North, Mr. Quayson was still holding Canadian citizenship.
The MP has been charged, among others, for deceiving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by making a false statement that he did not have a dual citizenship in order to acquire a Ghanaian passport.
Mr. Quayson has also been charged with perjury for making a false statement at Assin Fosu, that he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana, a statement he did not have a reason to believe to be true at the time of making it.
Again, the MP has been charged for making a false declaration for office when he knowingly said he does not owe allegiance to any country other than Ghana for the purpose of obtaining a public office as a Member of Parliament, a statement he knew to be material for obtaining that office.
No Show
The MP failed to show up for the trial for the second time and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, told the court that on February 3, 2020, after the order was given for the accused person to be served with the charge and facts sheets, the prosecution caused hearing notice to be issued with the service address of the accused person at Assin Bereku in the Central Region.
She said they subsequently got the Accra address of the accused person and the case investigator posted a copy of the hearing notice on the inside door of the accused person at Manet Estate in Accra.
“Again, on February 7, we caused a second hearing notice to be issued for service by the court bailiff at the home of the accused person in Accra. On this same date the police investigator also posted a copy of the charge sheet at the home of the accused person. The police met an occupant of the home of the accused who refused to accept the charge sheet and said the accused had gone out,” the DPP told the court.
Mrs. Obuobisa therefore, prayed the court to issue a warrant for the arrest of the MP since bailiffs and the investigator are always told the MP has gone out any time they try to serve him.
Criminal Summon
But the presiding judge upon looking at the affidavit of non service indicated that the bailiff was not able to effect the service.
The DPP then urged the court to issue a criminal summon on the MP in accordance with Section 65 of Act 30 which states that “Where service in the manner provided by sections 63 and 64 cannot, by the exercise of due diligence be effected, the serving officer shall affix one of the duplicates of the summons to a conspicuous part of the house or homestead in which the person summoned ordinarily resides, and the summons shall be considered to have been duly served.”
Justice Nsenkyire subsequently issued an order for substituted service in the form of a criminal summon on the MP to appear before the court.
Copies of the charge sheet as well as the fact sheet of the case are to be posted on the wall to the house of the MP. The case was adjourned to February 15, 2022.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak