The case of the NCA before the Supreme Court

General News of Saturday, July 6, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-07-06

The case involving four former members of the National Communications Authority (NCA) board of directors and one businessman was again referred to the Supreme Court.

William Mathew Tetteh-Tevie, a former NCA Director General's lawyer, filed an application for judicial review challenging the trial court's order asking him to open his defense.

The lawyer asks the highest court to overturn the decision of Judge Eric Kyei Baffuor, who ordered the defendants to open their defense after finding that the prosecution had been able to & # 39; Establish a prima facie case against them.

The motion is the latest in a litany of motions before the trial court and the Court of Appeal challenging the judge's decision to order them to open their defense.

Trial

Former members of the NCA Board of Directors – Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, William Tetteh-Tevie, Alhaji Salifu Osman Mimina and Nana Owusu Ensaw as well as George Dereck Oppong businessman – are translated in a high court in Accra, accused of causing financial losses to the state, including the purchase of Pegasus equipment.

The prosecution led by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa, filed the case on April 18, 2019, after summoning six witnesses to the evidence.

applications

After the presentation of the prosecution's case, the defendants filed a motion for a nonsuit, insisting that the prosecution could not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

In his decision, the president of the court rejected the applications and ordered the defendants to open their defense on May 30, 2019.

The five have since lodged numerous appeals to challenge the court's decision to dismiss the case.

They then requested a stay of proceedings pending the decision of the appeal, but all the applications were dismissed.

They then appealed to the Court of Appeal for an order suspending the trial, but these requests were also dismissed and they were ordered to return to the trial court to open the defense. .

Baffoe-Bonnie's lawyer then filed a new motion requesting the trial court to stay the proceedings pending the appeal of its decision with respect to the admission of the "confession statement" of his customer.

The motion was also rejected and Judge Kyei Baffour specifically instructed the lawyers to stop "prostituting themselves through court proceedings" by filing the "numerous frivolous and vexatious petitions".

The judge then ordered Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie to open his defense but his lawyer said they were entitled to an automatic seven-day suspension in order to exercise their "rights".

The court granted the request and then asked Mathew Tetteh-Tevie to open his defense, but his lawyer also told the court that he would need time to prepare his client.

Judge Kyei Baffuor then ordered Mr. Tetteh-Tevie to prepare to open his defense on July 4, 2019. He also ordered the other defendants to be ready to open their defense in case Mr. Tetteh-Tevie would not have done to avoid "another useless adjournment."

It is this order of the court of first instance that Mr. Tetteh-Tevie's lawyer challenges before the Supreme Court.

Judge Kyei Baffour subsequently adjourned the case until July 25 pending the outcome of the Supreme Court's July 23 application.