|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Court of Appeal has acquitted and discharged former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, overturning her earlier conviction and 10-year prison sentence.
The appellate court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against her beyond reasonable doubt, the required legal standard in criminal cases.
Court overturns High Court conviction
The unanimous decision was delivered on Thursday by a three-member panel comprising Justices Emmanuel Ankamah, Emmanuel Senyo Amedahe and Samuel Obeng-Diawuo.
The panel set aside the judgment of the High Court, which had convicted Tamakloe-Attionu on multiple charges following a trial involving 78 counts.
The Court of Appeal held that the evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient to sustain the convictions.
The judges also criticised the approach taken by the trial court, noting that the High Court had lost sight of the constitutional principle that an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The full reasons for the decision are contained in a 94-page judgment, which the court indicated would be made available later on Thursday.
Appeal against conviction and trial in absentia
Tamakloe-Attionu appealed against both her conviction and the High Court’s decision to proceed with her trial and sentencing in her absence.
Her lawyers argued that the charges were defective and that the prosecution had failed to establish the alleged offences beyond reasonable doubt.
The Court of Appeal upheld the appeal and ordered that she be acquitted and discharged, effectively overturning all the convictions against her.
Background to the MASLOC case
Tamakloe-Attionu was convicted by an Accra High Court in April 2024 following a trial that began on January 30, 2019.
She was found guilty of several offences, including stealing, conspiracy to steal, wilfully causing financial loss to the state, causing loss to public property, improper payment of public funds, unauthorised commitment and money laundering.
In total, she faced 78 charges arising from allegations linked to her tenure as MASLOC CEO.
The prosecution, led at the time by Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, relied significantly on investigations conducted by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
Prosecutors alleged that Tamakloe-Attionu diverted and misappropriated public funds through various MASLOC programmes.
Among the allegations were claims that she diverted a loan facility intended for Obaatanpa Microfinance after the institution reportedly declined the facility because of its interest rate.
She was also accused of misusing funds allocated for MASLOC sensitisation programmes, diverting relief funds meant for victims of the Kantamanto Market fire and inflating the procurement costs of vehicles and mobile phones.
The prosecution called seven witnesses and relied heavily on a forensic audit report during the trial.
Extradition and prison sentence
Tamakloe-Attionu travelled to the United States in 2021 with permission from the High Court to seek medical treatment while her trial was ongoing. She subsequently did not return to Ghana.
She was later extradited from the United States and returned to Ghana on June 9, 2026.
Following her return, she began serving her 10-year sentence at the Nsawam Medium Security Female Prison on June 24.
The Court of Appeal’s latest ruling, however, has now overturned both the conviction and sentence.
Prosecution failed to meet legal threshold
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal maintained that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The judges also raised concerns about how evidence was evaluated during the original trial, concluding that the convictions could not stand.
The decision brings a major reversal in the long-running MASLOC case and clears Tamakloe-Attionu of the charges for which she had been imprisoned.
