The criminal case involving businessman Solomon Asamoah and Prof. Kwame Ameyaw-Akumfi over the abandoned Ghana Sky Train project has taken a new turn, with Mr Asamoah’s lawyers challenging key decisions of the trial court at the Supreme Court.
The development was disclosed by Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Justice Srem-Sai, who said the two accused persons have still not filed their defences despite being given a total of 42 days to do so.
According to Justice Srem-Sai, the trial court on July 2 dismissed the accused persons’ submissions of no case and directed them to file their respective defences within 21 days, if they wished to.
However, when the 21-day period expired, neither accused had filed a defence. Instead, they filed an application for a stay of proceedings.
The trial court, on July 30, subsequently granted the two accused persons another 21 days within which to file their defences, bringing the total period to 42 days.
The case was then adjourned to Monday, August 24, for a case management conference.
But on Friday, August 21, a day after the additional 21-day period expired, lawyers for Solomon Asamoah filed two applications at the Supreme Court.
The first application seeks an order of certiorari to quash the trial court’s dismissal of his submission of no case and the variation of his bail conditions.
The second application seeks an interlocutory injunction to stay proceedings pending the determination of the certiorari application.
“The two gentlemen have still not filed a defence,” Justice Srem-Sai said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
The interlocutory injunction application is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court on Thursday, August 27.
The Supreme Court proceedings could determine whether the trial of the accused persons in the Sky Train case proceeds as scheduled at the lower court.
The Ghana Sky Train project was conceived as an urban rail transport initiative intended to provide an elevated railway system in Accra, but the project failed to materialise as originally envisaged.
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