The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has filed an urgent application at the Court of Appeal seeking a stay of execution of the judgment that acquitted and discharged former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, pending an appeal at the Supreme Court.
The application was filed on Thursday, July 30, just hours after the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned Attionu’s conviction and 10-year prison sentence, acquitting and discharging her of all charges.
The Attorney-General is asking the Court of Appeal’s Criminal Division in Accra to suspend the effect of its judgment until the Supreme Court determines the state’s appeal.
The motion, filed by Principal State Attorney Hilda W. Craig on behalf of the Attorney-General, is supported by an affidavit sworn by Assistant State Attorney Andrew Owusu-Agyemang.
According to the affidavit, Attionu was first arraigned before the High Court in February 2019 on charges including stealing and causing financial loss to the state. During the trial, she left Ghana for the United States, prompting the court to continue proceedings in her absence.
On April 16, 2024, the High Court convicted her in absentia and sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour.
The affidavit states that Attionu appealed the conviction in February 2026 while she was still outside Ghana’s jurisdiction. Around the same period, the Attorney-General’s Office initiated extradition proceedings, leading to her return from the United States in June 2026 after a federal district court in Nevada approved her extradition. She subsequently began serving her prison sentence.
However, on July 30, 2026, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal comprising Justices Emmanuel Ankamah, Emmanuel Senyo Amedahe and Samuel Obeng-Diawuo unanimously allowed her appeal, set aside the convictions and ordered that she be acquitted and discharged.
The appellate court held that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and criticised the trial court, saying it had lost sight of the constitutional principle that every accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The Attorney-General has challenged that decision, arguing in the affidavit that the Court of Appeal’s judgment resulted in a substantial miscarriage of justice because of what he describes as material errors of law and fact on the face of the record.
The affidavit further states that the Republic has already filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court and maintains that the appeal raises substantial and arguable grounds with a real likelihood of success.
According to the Attorney-General, failing to grant a stay of execution could render the intended appeal ineffective if the acquittal remains in force before the Supreme Court determines the matter.
The application therefore asks the Court of Appeal to suspend the operation of its July 30 judgment pending the final determination of the appeal by the Supreme Court.
Court documents show that notice of the application has been directed to the Registrar of the Court of Appeal’s Criminal Division and Attionu at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison and the Director of the Ghana Prisons Service at Nsawam.
Attionu, the former MASLOC CEO, had originally faced 78 charges, including conspiracy to steal, stealing, causing financial loss to the state, money laundering and procurement-related offences.
She was convicted in absentia by the High Court in April 2024 after leaving Ghana during her trial, but the Court of Appeal unanimously set aside the convictions and ordered that she be acquitted and discharged.
The Attorney-General has indicated that the Republic is dissatisfied with the ruling and is confident the Supreme Court will overturn the decision.
Credit:- citinewsroom
