Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has rejected calls by lawyers for former National Signals Bureau (NSB) Director-General Kwabena Adu-Boahen and former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company Limited (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab, to defer their cases until after the legal vacation.
The lawyers had petitioned the Chief Justice to reconsider a warrant authorising the judges handling the cases to sit during the legal vacation.
Counsel for the accused persons, including former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame and Samuel Atta Akyea, cited prior commitments by members of their respective defence teams and requested that the cases be adjourned until October.
However, speaking at the 2nd Quadrennial Delegates Congress of the Senior Staff Association of the Judicial Service on Tuesday, August 11, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said decisions on adjournments were matters for the courts and could not be treated as administrative issues subject to the legal vacation.
The cases will therefore continue during the vacation period, with the court adjourning proceedings to August 18 for further case management.
The development follows separate letters written by the two defence teams to the Chief Justice protesting the decision to allow the criminal cases to proceed during the legal vacation.
The lawyers said some members of the defence teams had travelled outside the country and made prior commitments for the vacation before the decision was taken to continue proceedings.
The two legal teams, led by Mr Dame for Abdul-Wahab and Mr Akyea for Adu-Boahen, argued that scheduling the cases during the vacation was inconsistent with long-standing judicial practice and the rules governing sittings of the Superior Courts.
In their respective letters dated August 5, the lawyers informed the Chief Justice that they would not participate in proceedings scheduled during the legal vacation.
In his letter on behalf of Abdul-Wahab, Mr Dame said the trial judge had informed the parties at the previous sitting that he had received authorisation to hear the case during the vacation and directed them to raise any concerns with the Chief Justice.
The defence argued that the trial had not commenced before the legal vacation and, therefore, should not have been listed for hearing during the period.
Despite the objections, the Chief Justice has maintained that the matter of adjournment remains within the jurisdiction of the courts, paving the way for the cases to proceed during the vacation.
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