The Accra High Court has given two former officials of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) up to September 23, 2026, to file their witness statements in the $2 million SkyTrain case.
The court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, granted the extension despite an application by one of the accused persons invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and a fresh application by the other seeking a stay of proceedings pending appeal.
The two accused persons are the former Chief Executive Officer of GIIF, Solomon Asamoah, and a former Board Chairman of the fund, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi.
They are standing trial for allegedly conspiring to cause financial loss of $2 million in connection with the proposed Accra SkyTrain project, which was never constructed.
The prosecution has accused the two of causing the transfer of the $2 million from GIIF’s account to Africa Investor Holdings Limited, a South African company, without the required approval for the intended SkyTrain investment.
Applications
When the case was called on Monday (August 24) for case management conference (CMC), the court stated that it had not received any defence processes from the accused persons.
Counsel for Mr Asamoah, Prince Asafo-Adjei, who held brief for Victoria Barth, told the court that his client had not filed any process but had, on August 21, 2026, filed an application at the Supreme Court invoking its supervisory jurisdiction in respect of the case.
He said an interlocutory injunction application had also been filed, with a return date of August 27, 2026.
Counsel, therefore, prayed the court to adjourn the matter to allow the accused person to abide by the outcome of the Supreme Court proceedings.
Counsel for Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi, Godfred Gyimah Okyere, who held brief for Yaw Acheampong Boafo, also told the court that his client had not filed any defence process.
He said, however, that a fresh application for stay of proceedings pending appeal had been filed on August 21, 2026, with a return date of September 1, 2026.
He also prayed the court for an adjournment.
Prosecution objects
The Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, opposed the requests for adjournment.
He told the court that on July 2, 2026, it had directed the accused persons to file their defence processes within 21 days, if they wished to defend themselves.
According to him, the 21-day period expired on August 20, 2026, after the court had, following the dismissal of the accused persons’ applications for stay of proceedings on July 30, granted them an additional 21 days to file their defence processes.
Dr Srem-Sai said the applications filed at the Supreme Court on August 21, 2026, were made after the deadline given by the High Court had expired.
He argued that an application invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court did not operate as a stay of proceedings, neither did an interlocutory injunction application automatically stay proceedings.
He said the same applied to the fresh application for stay of proceedings filed by Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi.
The Deputy Attorney-General, therefore, urged the court not to exercise its discretion in favour of the accused persons, arguing that they had failed to comply with the court’s orders.
He prayed the court to convict the accused persons on the basis that they had refused to open their defence after the prosecution had established a prima facie case against them.
Court's decision
In its ruling, however, the court held that the filing of processes before the Supreme Court did not fetter its jurisdiction to proceed with the case.
The court said it would nevertheless exercise its discretion to extend the time for the accused persons to file their witness statements, if they were so minded.
Justice Kocuvie-Tay noted that the extension would be about the third time the court had granted the accused persons additional time to file their witness statements.
She ordered them to file the statements on or before September 23, 2026.
The court further directed that the CMC be conducted on October 5, 6 and 7, 2026, at 9 a.m. each day.
The case was accordingly adjourned to October 5, 2026.
