The Supreme Court has dismissed an application by Victor Selormey, former Deputy Minister of Finance, against certain orders made by the Fast Track Court (FTC) in his trial for malpractice in the court computerization project.
In its unanimous decision read by Mrs. Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, the court referred the matter back to the FTC for continuation. Giving reasons for its ruling, the Supreme Court said it upheld the decision of the trial court that documents covering the Court Computerization Project, could only be tendered in evidence by those who signed the contract.
The court explained that it was untenable in law for the defence to assume that the documents had to be tendered by the prosecution witness who was only an investigator in the case.
The court stated that since the investigator did not sign the contract he would not be in a proper position to answer questions about the documents if he tendered them. Selormey has been charged with six counts of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and willfully causing financial loss to the State.
He is alleged to have conspired with Dr Fred Owusu-Boadu, a Ghanaian consultant in the United States, to fraudulently cause the loss of 1,297,500 dollars to the State. The former deputy Finance Minister who has pleaded not guilty to the charges is on 1.5 billion cedis bail with two sureties to be justified.
Mr. Justice Sam Baddoo, an Appeal Court Judge, sitting as an additional High Court Judge, is the presiding judge at his trial at the FTC. The Supreme Court was presided over by Mr. Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu, Chief Justice.The other panel members were Mrs. Justice Bamford-Addo, Mr. Justice A.K.B. Ampiah, Mr. Justice E.D.K. Adjabeng, Mr. Justice William Atuguba, Mr. Justice George Lamptey and Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Source: GhanaWeb
