The Supreme Court has dismissed an application for interlocutory injunction filed by the first accused person in the $2 million Sky Train trial, Solomon Asamoah, former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF).
The Court, constituted by Justice Senyo Dzamefe JSC sitting as a single Justice of the Supreme Court, dismissed the application Monday morning after hearing arguments last Friday.
Mr. Asamoah had filed a certiorari application at the Supreme Court seeking to quash the decision of the High Court which dismissed his submission of no case after the prosecution had closed its case.
He subsequently filed for an injunction to restrain the High Court from proceeding with the trial pending the determination of the certiorari application.
In his ruling, Justice Dzamefe held that the applicant, based on his own affidavit evidence, failed to disclose a serious case to be tried, as the matters complained of are properly matters for appeal and not for certiorari.
The Court further reasoned that the decision by the trial judge to rule on the submission of no case did not constitute an exercise of jurisdiction without or in excess of jurisdiction.
The Court also held that the applicant had failed to establish what irreparable harm would be suffered if the injunction was not granted.
The effect of the ruling is that proceedings at the High Court will continue as scheduled and will not be halted to await the outcome of the certiorari application.
The High Court has set 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 second accused person, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi, former Board Chair of GIIF, 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, Mr. Solomon Asamoah and Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi, are standing trial for allegedly authorizing the payment of $2 million for the Sky Train project without board approval.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
