The Supreme Court docket has dismissed an utility by former Deputy Director-Basic of the Nationwide Service, Gifty Owale Mensah, asking the Excessive Court docket to droop the listening to of his case.
She is on trial for allegedly inflicting monetary loss to the state of over GH¢38 million.
The applying, filed by lawyer Gary Nimako Marfo, sought to halt the Excessive Court docket trial and order the defendants to submit the names and addresses of any witnesses to the case administration convention till the Supreme Court docket determines the constitutionality of the observe coverage on which the Excessive Court docket case was based mostly.
In a judgment in the present day (19 Might 2026), the five-person panel, chaired by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonny, dominated that the Excessive Court docket trial can proceed, assuming the defendants want to check the constitutionality of the observe coverage.
“After reviewing the method up to now, we imagine that the keep utility doesn’t meet the standards for a keep of proceedings.
“Whereas the applicant could select to pursue an interpretation of the observe coverage, the Excessive Court docket case should still proceed,” Chief Justice Baffour Bonny mentioned.
background
In October 2025, the Legal professional Basic and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Aine, indicted Owole Mensah for allegedly producing 9,934 ghost names on the NSA central administration system.
Prosecutors allege that she then took management of Blocks of Life Seek the advice of Restricted by making her mom’s driver one of many firm’s administrators and offered the corporate to ADB. She reportedly defined to the financial institution that she meant to offer items for rent buy to 9,934 ghost names and use their allowances as collateral to safe the premises.
Prosecutors mentioned the scheme allowed her to fraudulently receive 38,458,248.87 francs from banks by withholding taxes from advantages within the names of 9,934 individuals who didn’t exist over an 11-month interval.
She is charged with 5 counts of deliberately inflicting monetary loss to the state by utilizing her public workplace for revenue and cash laundering.
Owale Mensah pleaded not responsible and was granted bail by the Excessive Court docket, presided over by Justice Audrey Kokyuvi Tay.
On the case administration convention, the trial courtroom directed the defendant to submit an inventory of protection witnesses and their addresses.
Her attorneys argue that ordering her to offer an inventory of protection witnesses and their addresses is inconsistent with Article 19(2)(c) of the 1992 Structure, which supplies that an individual charged with a prison offense is presumed harmless till confirmed responsible by a courtroom of competent jurisdiction.
observe directions
Though sensible steering is just not a part of Ghanaian regulation, it kinds a part of the administration of justice.
The Disclosure of Apply Coverage in Prison Process and Case Administration 2018, developed in 2018 and signed by former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, regulates prison trials to make sure speedy trial and correct administration of instances.
Particularly, part 2(3)(a) requires the accused to reveal the names and addresses of all witnesses scheduled to be referred to as on the case administration stage.
The regulation states: “With out prejudice to the constitutional presumption of innocence of the accused, the accused shall, for case administration functions, disclose the names and addresses of all witnesses he intends to name if the courtroom requires him to enter a protection on the conclusion of the prosecution’s case.”
It’s this half that the defendants, by their lawyer Gary Nimako Marfo, are objecting to.
On this foundation, the defendant prayed to the courtroom to refer the problems raised to the Supreme Court docket for interpretation.
Nevertheless, the trial choose rejected the request to refer the case to the Supreme Court docket, saying the defendant had did not show the necessity for an interpretation that will justify a keep of proceedings.
Makes an attempt to halt trials within the Excessive Court docket have failed, and the Supreme Court docket’s newest determination brings to a climax the choices obtainable to defendants to halt trials.
