The Court of Appeal has acquitted and discharged the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu.
A three-member panel of the second highest court of the land, therefore, quashed her conviction and 10-year sentence on 78 corruption-related charges.
In a unanimous 94-page judgment delivered yesterday, the court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ankamah, with Justice Samuel Obeng-Diawuo and Justice Emmanuel Senyo Amedahe concurring, held that the trial judge repeatedly shifted the burden of proof onto the appellant, contrary to the constitutional presumption of innocence.
It added that the prosecution failed to prove several of the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The court first dismissed a preliminary objection by the Republic that Ms Tamakloe- Attionu, having jumped bail and left the country in 2019, was disentitled from appealing.
The panel held that there was no constitutional or statutory bar preventing a person convicted in absentia from exercising their right of appeal, once the proper procedure for filing the appeal had been followed.
A-G appeals
A few hours after the judgment, the Office of the Attorney-General (A-G) and Ministry of Justice filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court, stating that it was dissatisfied with the judgment of the Court of Appeal acquitting and discharging the respondent.
The grounds of appeal were that the judgment of the Court of Appeal was not supported by the evidence on record; that the Court of Appeal erred when it held that the conviction of the respondent was not supported by the evidence on record; and that the judgment had occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice.
It said additional grounds of appeal might be filed upon receipt of the record of proceedings.
In addition to the notice of appeal, the Attorney-General also filed a motion for stay of execution pending appeal, praying the Court of Appeal to stay the execution of its judgment acquitting and discharging Ms Tamakloe- Attionu until the Supreme Court determines the appeal.
The court found that some counts, including those alleging wilfully causing financial loss to the state, conspiracy to cause financial loss, and causing loss to public property, were fundamentally defective.
It was the considered view of the court that the counts failed to specify the particular acts by which the former MASLOC head was said to have caused the alleged losses.
The court held that this defect went to the constitutional right of an accused person to be informed, in detail, of the charge against her, and could not be cured by evidence led at the trial.
On the remaining counts, the court found that the trial judge had, on several occasions, required Ms Tamakloe-Attionu to prove her innocence rather than requiring the prosecution to establish guilt.
This included counts related to an alleged GH¢500,000 refund from Obaatanpa Microfinance, funds meant for a nationwide sensitisation programme, and funds meant for victims of the 2015 Kantamanto Market fire disaster.
It was the court’s opinion that the prosecution did not call key witnesses, including MASLOC Regional Directors, to confirm whether the sensitisation programmes had taken place, adding that evidence tying the appellant to the alleged sensitisation shortfall amounted to inadmissible hearsay.
On the GH¢500,000 count, the court held that the authenticity of an acknowledgement letter relied on by the prosecution had never been properly established, and that requiring the appellant to prove or disprove her own signature on the document was improper.
Others
The court held that since the underlying stealing charges could not stand, the related money laundering counts also failed.
It similarly set aside convictions on improper payment of public funds, unauthorised commitment resulting in financial obligation for government, and contravention of the Public Procurement law, finding in each case that the prosecution had not established the specific procedure the appellant was alleged to have breached.
Upon quashing all the convictions, the court declined to consider the appellant's separate ground that her sentence was harsh and excessive, holding that the issue had become moot.
Background
Ms Attionu, who headed MASLOC from 2013 to 2017, was convicted by the High Court's Financial and Economic Crimes Division in April 2024 on 78 counts, including stealing, conspiracy to steal, causing financial loss to the state, money laundering and procurement offences, over allegations that she embezzled several million cedis in public funds between 2013 and 2016.
She had left Ghana in 2019 after obtaining court permission to travel for a medical check-up but did not return for the continuation of her trial, resulting in the forfeiture of her sureties' bonds.
She was tried in absentia by the court presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal with additional responsibilities as a High Court judge.
She was, however, extradited from the United States to Ghana in June 2026 to begin serving her sentence, the first of such extraditions between the two countries since 2009.
