CEO of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has said the prosecution led by former Attorney-General Godfred Dame did a poor job in the case against former CEO of the MASLOC, Sedina Tamakloe.
He makes the point that the Court of Appeal evaluated all the charges and came to the conclusion that Sedina should be acquitted and discharged.
“The judges evaluated the merits of the charges. You did shoddy work, poor work. He never took his work seriously or evaluated it
“The former Attorney-General Godfred Dame did shoddy work on this issue. You cannot sacrifice the freedom of an individual based on political expediency,” Edudzi Tameklo, also a lawyer, said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, August 1.
Also commenting on this matter, Legal practitioner Kofi Bentil has expressed the view that the fight against corruption will not be won when the government is freeing its people who were punished for corruption.
He makes the point that there is a clear trend that the smart thing to do is, if you get into trouble, find a way to escape and wait for your party to come to power.
Speaking in relation to the acquittal of the former CEO of Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre, Sedina Tamaloe on TV3’s Key Points Saturday, August 1, he said, “There is a clear trend that the smart thing to do is, if you get into trouble, find a way to escape and wait for your party to come to power.
“We can’t fight corruption when the government is clearing its people,” he said.
“One charge alone is enough to put the person into jail. It looks like somebody just wanted to free Sedina…Let us see how the appeal goes, but I don’t think it is going to go anywhere.”
For his part, Legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said that he cannot state categorically that all the over 70 charges levelled against Sedina Tamakloe, were defective.
He says the accused may have questions to answer on some of the charges; hence he believes that Ghana should wait for the Supreme Court to hear the appeal against the Court of Appeal decision.
“There is some merit in the grounds used by the Appeals Court in acquitting and discharging Sedina Tamakloe. The State clearly didn’t meet the burden of proof in some of the charges.
“But I cannot say all the charges are defective,” he added.
Kpebu further said that the charge on the contract to supply buses to the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU).
He said former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta renegotiated the contract when the NPP took over governance; hence it would not be right to continue to hold Sedina Tamakloe to account.
“Ofori-Atta renegotiated the contract to supply the buses. If you knew the contract was such a terrible deal that you could renegotiate, but you chose not to renegotiate. After renegotiating, how do you saddle Sedina with the consequences? I don’t understand why you will want to hold Sedina accountable,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, August 1.
The Attorney-General has announced plans to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision at the Supreme Court after the appellate court quashed the conviction and 10-year prison sentence imposed on Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu.
The A-G believes that the High Court ruling which convicted Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu has merit and must stand.
In essence, he has filed for Stay of Execution against the Appeal Court’s judgement in favour of former CEO of MASLOC, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu.
The Appeal Court acquitted and discharged Madam Attionu of causing financial loss to the State and other charges against her on July 30.
According to the motion sighted by 3news, “…this Honourable Court will be moved by the Attorney-General (Applicant) herein, praying for an order to stay the execution of the judgement granted in favour of the respondent herein pending appeal upon the grounds stated in the accompanying affidavit and for any further order(s) as this Honourable court may deem fit.”
