The Accra High Court’s Financial Division has set February 24, 2024, as the deadline for a decision on whether or not “absconded” Sedinam Tamakloe should be tried in absentia.
The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Center (MASLOC) has absconded, according to a previous ruling by the High Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe.
After Sedinam Ationu Tamakloe was not produced, the Justice of the Court of Appeal, who was acting as an additional High Court judge on January 24, 2023, ordered Alex Mould, the former CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and Gavivina Tamakloe to pay GHc5 million to the state.
Justice Asare-Botwe instructed the parties to file a supplementary procedure to their individual arguments on the prosecution’s request on whether or not the trial should be held in absentia when the case was called in court on Tuesday, February 7.
Sedinam Attionu Tamakloe, the former CEO of MASLOC, has missed 16 months of court appearances.
The defense attorneys challenged the prosecution’s motion to have the trial proceed while she was out of the country.
The first accused’s attorney, Agbesi Djakpasu, told the court that “as far as I’m concerned, you are not the one to hear this case” because “the court has its opinions that our client has absconded.”
He claimed that the judge is unfit to hear the motion because the court had made its opinions clear in the decision regarding the application for forfeiture of sureties.
The court clarified that in order to determine whether or not the defendant should be tried in absentia, “you have to look at the parameters provided and the legislation.”
“If you think I shouldn’t hear this case, you can go to the Supreme Court to prevent me,” Justice Asare-Botwe stated.
“Go up to the Supreme Court and prohibit me if you think I’m not qualified to hear this case.”
The second accused party, Daniel Axim, the former chief operating officer, was present in court.
