[1980]DLCA11570 • May 15, 1980 • Court of Appeal
REPUBLIC vs. SPECIAL TRIBUNAL; EX PARTE AKOSAH
The appellant, James Clifford Akosah Jnr., was convicted and sentenced by the Special Tribunal to three years' penal labour and confiscation of nineteen vehicles. The conviction related to allegations arising from investigations by the Archer Committee of Inquiry into the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board. The appellant contended that the Special Tribunal acted without jurisdiction and breached natural justice, as no trial involving him was pending before any special court on the relevant date, and that the tribunal tried him for matters already addressed by government white paper and statutory powers exercised under the Exchange Control Act.
read moreANIN J.A. Anin J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. On 21 February 1980, the appellant filed in the Accra High Court a motion ex parte for leave to apply for an order of certiorari to quash the conviction and sentence of three years' penal labour and order of confiscation of his nineteen vehicles entered and passed against him by the respondent tribunal in its judgment dated 4 February 1980, in a case intituled Republic v. James Clifford Akosah Jnr. Grounds of Certiorari Application The grounds of the application were fully set out in the accompanying statement and affidavit verifying the facts relied on. Briefly stated, it was contended that the respondent tribunal acted without jurisdiction and in breach of the rules of natural justice and that its procedure was contrary to the due process of law. More particularly, it was first submitted that the special tribunal was an inferior tribunal with a limited jurisdiction defined by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (Specia...