Accra, Aug. 1, GNA – The Court of Appeal on Friday adjourned indefinitely the Attorney General’s application to stay the acquittal of Sedinam Christine Attionu Tamakloe, former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC).
The application seeks to suspend the effect of the Court of Appeal’s July 30 judgment acquitting Ms Tamakloe while the Attorney General pursues further legal processes.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal adjourned the matter after hearing submissions from counsel for the parties.
The panel said it had been unable to reach a decision and would seek authorisation from the Chief Justice to sit during the legal vacation before delivering its ruling.
It said hearing notices would be issued to the parties once a date had been fixed.
The Attorney General filed the application after the Court of Appeal overturned Ms Tamakloe’s conviction and 10-year prison sentence imposed by the Accra High Court.
In its judgment delivered on July 30, the Court of Appeal held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt and that the charges were defective.
In the stay application, the Attorney General argued that the Court of Appeal’s judgment had occasioned “substantial miscarriage of justice” and contained errors of law and fact on the face of the record.
Ms Tamakloe was charged before the Accra High Court in February 2019.
The trial continued in her absence after she travelled to the United States.
On April 16, 2024, the High Court convicted her in absentia on charges of conspiracy, stealing and wilfully causing financial loss to the State, and sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment.
She appealed against the conviction, arguing that it was unsupported by the evidence before the trial court.
The State subsequently initiated extradition proceedings, and she was returned to Ghana from the United States in June 2026.
The Court of Appeal allowed her appeal on July 30, set aside the conviction and acquitted her, following which the Attorney General filed the application for a stay of execution.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Joyce Danso