Ruling On IFC Suspended

By Stephen K.Effah
Friday, 25 July 2008

The Supreme Court has suspended for the second time, its ruling on whether the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has immunity from the country’s courts or not, brought before it by the incarcerated former Ghana National Petroleum Corporation Chief Executive, Tsatsu Tsikata.

This is to await the outcome of relief’s being sought by Mr Tsikata at the Supreme Court to quash his five year jail sentence by an Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Henrietta Abban.

The court on June 25, suspended its ruling on the matter following Mr Tsikata’s decision to "arrest" the judgement by the High Court and asked the Supreme Court to invoke its supervisory jurisdiction to quash his conviction.

Wednesday’s hearing was to find out whether the purpose of which Mr Tsikata arrested the judgement has been achieved or not after the expiry of the period of the action.

But Mr Tsikata said the conditions that necessitated the arrest of the judgement have not yet been achieved and expressed surprise at the turn of events because he was served with the notice of hearing only about 30 minutes before it was called.

He said he had come for another case at the Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Abban, where he was seeking bail pending his appeal.

The Attorney General, Joe Ghartey, also told the five-member panel that he had no idea that the case was scheduled for hearing that morning and that he was at the Supreme Court for a different case.

The panel too said it was notified just that morning.
Nevertheless, when Justice Atuguba asked Mr Tsikata whether the intention for which the judgement on the case was arrested still persisted, he told the panel that those conditions have even not been heard.

He said that his application urging the court to quash his jail term has not yet been heard.
That case was to have been heard on July 16, but Mr Tsikata objected to the empanelling of Justice Stephen Alan Brobbey because Justice Brobbey was once a member of a committee of inquiry set up by the Chief Justice to investigate the conduct of Justice Abban.

He said Justice Brobbey thereby had an informed opinion of her, which could influence his case before the Supreme Court.

Mr Tsikata was on June 18, sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by an Accra Fast Track High Court after he was found guilty of three counts of causing financial loss of GH¢230,000 to the state and misapplying GH¢2,000 in public property.

At the time of his conviction, Mr Tsikata was expected to appear before the Supreme Court the following week for a ruling on whether the International Finance Corporation has immunity or not to testify in the case.

Immediately he was sentenced, Mr Tsikata asked the court for bail to allow him to appeal against the decision, but that request was refused by Justice Abban who presided over the court.

He later filed a notice of appeal seeking an order of the Court of Appeal to set aside the High Court’s decision because, he said, it was unreasonable and not supported by the evidence given.