Kwasi Nyantakyi
The judge hearing the case of former President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwasi Nyantakyi, has expressed dissatisfaction about the delays occasioned in the case.
Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, last Tuesday took exception to two letters she received from the prosecution asking for an adjournment because the state prosecutor in the case was on an official assignment.
“It is obvious that these are all tactics to waste the time of the court,” the Judge held while adjourning the case mainly because of two pending applications before the Court of Appeal.
The judge also reluctantly turned down a request by the defence attorney for the court to follow its previous directive and discharge the accused persons.
Mr. Nyantakyi is before the court together with a former member of the executive committee of the GFA, Abdulai Alhassan, charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, fraud and corruption.
The trial is as a result of alleged shady deals which were exposed by Anas Aremeyaw Anas in his ‘Number 12’ investigative piece which exposed alleged corrupts dealings at the GFA.
The prosecution during case management urged the court to allow Anas to testify in-camera and the court granted it.
But she made a further order that Anas must unmask in the Judge’s chambers for the accused persons to see his face before he testifies.
The prosecution has since filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging the decision ordering Anas to show his face in chambers to the accused persons.
The trial judge at the last sitting had warned that if by the end of April no meaningful steps have been taken in the appeal against the court ordering Anas Aremeyaw Anas to show his face to Mr. Nyantakyi in chambers before testifying, the two accused persons would be discharged.
The prosecutor was absent when the case was called last Tuesday and Baffour Gyau Bonsu Ashia holding Thaddeus Sory’s brief for Mr. Nyantakyi, reminded the court about the previous warming.
He said the court would note that the prosecution always came to court in a team so they absenting themselves from the proceeding “is a clear indication that the State is not interested in prosecuting this matter”
“It is our humble submission and prayer that my lady strikes out the matter and discharge the accused persons,” he prayed the court and further urged the court to take notice of the fact that Mr. Alhassan travels from Tamale to Accra for the case each time.
Justice Simmons recalled her previous warning but indicated that the registrar of the Court of Appeal had brought it to her attention that the delay in the appeal was due to logistical challenges.
She also emphasised that the court had stated that if no meaningful steps were taken towards the appeal then the accused would be discharged.
The Judge said she had, however, been informed by the Registrar of the Court of Appeal that the delay in the appeal was caused by logistical constraints and partly because of an error by the prosecution in the spelling of Mr. Nyantakyi’s name on the docket which necessitated the need for a correction.
Based on this reason, Justice Simmons said she will await the outcome of the two appeals filed by both the prosecution and Mr. Nyantakyi before proceeding with the trial.
She subsequently adjourned the case to June 10, 2024 for continuation.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak