In absentia or not: Court to decide in former MASLOC boss case Feb 24

The High Court(Financial and Economic Division) has said it will decide on February 24, 2023, whether former MASLOC Boss, Miss Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu should be tried in absentia or not.

The presiding judge has thus directed the parties to file their Supplementary affidavits.

Request for recusal

When the court sat on Tuesday, another issue that came up was the request by counsel for the first accused person for the sitting judge to recuse herself and thus not be the one to give the ruling.

However, the presiding judge disagreed with the same noting that the ruling would be given per the case’s particular merit but not on any other.

As a result, she advised counsel to go to the Supreme Court to prohibit her if he deems her unfit to hear the matter.

The court has already ordered the former CEO of the GNPC, Mr. Alex Mould, and Gavivina Tamakloe, the two persons who stood as sureties for the former MASLOC boss to pay the bail bond of GHC 5 million after declining an extension for medical treatment of the former MASLOC boss in the U.S.

Background

The former MASLOC boss and the first accused person, Miss Sedinam Tamakloe Attionu, and one Daniel Axim, a former Operations Officer of MASLCO, are facing trial for allegedly stealing and causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GHC93 million.

Therefore, they are facing a total of 78 charges, including conspiracy to steal, stealing, improper payment, money laundering, and the Breach of the Public Procurement Act.

According to the particulars of the charges, the accused persons allegedly stole GHC 3,198, 280 and willfully caused financial loss to the state to the tune of GHC 1,973,780.

Also with reference to unauthorized commitment, the two are alleged to have caused financial obligation amounting to GHC61,735,832.50 to the government.

They are further accused of making the state lose an amount of GHC22,158,118.85 and GHC273,743.66 to public property and improper payment and a further GHC3,704,380 to money laundering.

However, after pleading not guilty to the charges in 2019, Miss Attionu has not shown up in court in the last 16 months after being granted permission to travel to the USA for medical treatment.

In November last year, the presiding judge upon the expression of her displeasure about the situation, issued a bench warrant for her arrest to stand trial.

Subsequently, an application was directed at the two sureties to show any cause why they should not be made to pay the bail bond.

They were then ordered by the court to produce the former CEO of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre(MASLOC) by December 22, 2022.

This deadline was afterward extended by the court pursuant to processes filed by lawyers for the accused person.