Supreme Court has dismissed the injunction application filed by the lawyers of former GIIF CEO, Solomon Asamoah seeking to restrain the High Court from continuing his trial pending the determination of his request to quash the order for him to open his defence.
Asamoah, the first accused person in the Skytrain trial, filed a certiorari application seeking to quash the decision of the High Court refusing his submission of no c ase after the close of Prosecution’s case.
Subsequent to this, he sought an injunction to restrain the High Court from proceeding with his trial pending the determination of this application.
The Court, constituted of Justice Senyo Dzamefe JSC sitting as a single Justice of the Supreme Court after hearing arguments on Friday, August 28, dismissed the injunction application on Monday, ruling that the applicant, based on his own affidavit evidence, did not disclose a serious case to be tried, as the matters complained of are matters for appeal.
The court also held that the decision by the trial judge to rule on the submission of no case is not an exercise made without or in excess of jurisdiction and as well that the applicant has not made out a case for what irreparable harm will be caused when the injunction is not granted.
This ruling means that proceedings in the trial can go on as scheduled and won’t be halted to wait for the outcome of the certiorari application filed by the applicant.
The High Court has scheduled September 23, as the final extended deadline for the accused persons to file their defence if they wish to do so.
In a related development, the 2nd accused person, Prof Christopher Ameyaw Ekumfi has filed a repeat application for stay of proceedings which is scheduled to be heard on September 1 at the Court of Appeal.
The two accused persons, former CEO of the GIIF, Mr Solomon Asamoah and Former Board Chair of GIIF, Prof Christopher Ameyaw Ekumfi are standing trial for allegedly stealing, causing financial loss to the state, using public funds for profit in a $2million for a Skytrain project which did not materialise.
By Laud Adu-Asare
