TSATSU TSIKATA vs. THE REPUBLIC

The appellant, Tsatsu Tsikata, was charged with three counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state under section 179A3a of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29), as amended, and a fourth count of intentionally misapplying public property contrary to section 12 of the Public Property Protection Decree, 1977 (SMCD 140). The charges arose from his role as Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in relation to a Guarantee Agreement signed in 1991 between GNPC and Caisse Francaise, guaranteeing a loan to Valley Farms Company Ltd. The company defaulted, and GNPC made payments in 1996 under the guarantee. The appellant contested the charges, arguing among other things that the criminal provision was applied retroactively and that no wilful financial loss was caused by him.

PROFESSOR MODIBO OCRAN, JSC. INTRODUCTION. This case came before us by way of an appeal from the Judgment of the Court of Appeal, delivered on 27th November 2003, in which the latter court upheld the rejection by a High Court of a motion of submission of no case made after the close of the prosecution’s case. The appellant was arraigned before the High Court on three counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, contrary to section 179A(3)(a) of the Criminal Code, 1960(Act 29), as amended; and on a fourth count of intentionally misapplying public property, contrary to section 1(2) of the Public Property Protection Decree, 1977(SMCD 140). Counsel for the Appellant and the Director of Public Prosecution have obliged us respectively with “Submissions On Behalf of Appellant” and “Statement of Case by the Prosecution/Respondent”, along with a string of local and foreign judicial opinions to buttress their cases. The submissions by Appellant’s Counsel were rather de...