Former Deputy Attorney-General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah has criticised the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, arguing that the appellate court failed to properly evaluate the evidence presented during her trial.
The Court of Appeal on Thursday, July 30, overturned Madam Tamakloe-Attionu’s conviction and 10-year prison sentence after ruling that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against her beyond reasonable doubt.
The decision effectively set aside an earlier High Court judgment that found the former MASLOC CEO guilty on multiple counts.
Reacting to the ruling, Mr Tuah-Yeboah maintained that the evidence presented before the trial court was sufficient to support the conviction, insisting that the Court of Appeal erred by focusing on isolated aspects of the case rather than considering the entire body of evidence.
He urged the public to read both the High Court and Court of Appeal judgments before forming an opinion on the matter.
“The court shall not set aside the judgment on the grounds that the charges were defective. And let me also place on record, anyone who wants to appreciate the actual evidence in this particular case will be doing himself a great disservice if he chooses to look at the Court of Appeal judgment alone without regard to the judgment given by the trial court,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah further accused the appellate court of selectively relying on portions of the evidence that supported its conclusion while overlooking other critical facts on record.
“What the Court of Appeal did in this particular instance is to isolate areas that they thought were convenient to them. If you take the actual judgment, you will realise that what they did was rather a shoddy job.
“What is the evidence on record, because they also indicated that there wasn’t evidence on record? And I can say that there was this mountain of evidence on record that was never availed, and those pieces of evidence on record would lead any reasonable court to a conclusion that Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu had a case to answer,” he added.
His comments come after the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, announced that the state will challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision at the Supreme Court, insisting that the appeal is based on legal principles and the need to uphold accountability.
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