Dr. Stephen Opuni
The Court of Appeal has set June 14, 2023, to give a ruling on a request by counsels for former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo, for an order directing the registrar of the criminal division of the High Court to transmit full records of proceedings.
Counsels for the accused persons in an oral application urged the court to order the registrar to transmit the full records because the ones before the court have missing pages, which will prejudice the case of their clients.
The documents are parts of proceedings in the trial presided over Justice (rtd) Clemence Honyenuga, who stepped down in March 2023, after attaining the retirement age of 70 for Supreme Court judges.
Dr. Opuni and private businessman, Seidu Agongo, are accused of causing over GH¢217 million financial loss to the state and have been on trial at an Accra High Court since March 2018, charged with 27 offences.
Justice Kwasi Anokye Gyimah, the new judge assigned to the case following the retirement of Justice Honyenuga, ruled that it would be proper to start the case afresh because he did not want to be saddled with the same suspicions and allegations of unfairness levelled against the current state of proceedings.
The Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, however, filed an appeal against the decision, arguing that “the decision of the court to start the trial de novo (afresh) has occasioned a miscarriage of justice as it will hinder an efficient trial of the accused persons in the instant case.”
Before the case is heard, Samuel Cudjoe, counsel for Dr. Opuni, in an oral application indicated that the records before the court have missing pages.
“It is the responsibility of the registrar to ensure that they bring the entire record to court and not half as they have done in this case. The practice in instances like this is to get the registrar to ensure he corrects the records to ensure the full record is placed before the court,” he argued.
Benson Nutsukpui, counsel for Seidu Agongo, supported the application and added that the records as they are now are incomplete and will not allow the court to do justice as required.
The application was opposed by Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, who argued that the application is totally unsupported by any rule of procedure so far as proceedings before the Court of Appeal are concerned.
He said the court will note a clear distinction between the procedures for conduct of civil and conduct of criminal appeal, indicating that whereas in a civil appeal there is involvement of parties in determining what ought to go into the record, same is completely omitted when it comes to the conduct of criminal appeal.
Mr. Dame averred that the constitutional provision that deals with fair trial is Article 19 and save and except where an act by a person whether the registrar or the prosecution infringes Article 19 that act cannot be said to be a violation on the right of accused persons.
He said in a record containing over 4,000 pages, the omission of about 25 pages cannot be said to be of substantial prejudice to the case of the respondents or accused persons.
“It was incumbent on the respondent to demonstrate how the omission of these 25 pages out of over 4,000 pages harms the case of the respondents or materially disabled the respondents from contesting this appeal. They did not demonstrate at all how each of the pages omitted affects the accused persons beyond the allegations,” Mr. Dame added.
He said the subject matter of the appeal is a determination of the simple question whether the trial ought to commence afresh or the trial judge ought to adopt the proceedings.
“Having shown that there has not been any prejudice to the case of any of the parties at all, justice should be served for an order for the hearing of the appeal,” the Attorney General added.
The court, presided over by Justice Philip Bright Mensah and assisted by Justices Jennifer Dadzie and Ernest Owusu-Dapaa, adjourned the case to June 14 for ruling on the application.
Meanwhile, the High Court has adjourned the case to July 12, 2023, to allow the prosecution time to file their witnesses’ statements.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak