An Accra High Court presided over by Her Ladyship, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe has dismissed an application by Iddrisu Adam, the Accused/Applicant, seeking to set aside his trial for want of jurisdiction.
The grounds for the application are that the trial and prosecution of the Applicant is a nullity, and should be set aside since the charge and trial are contrary to the Diplomatic Immunities Act, 1962 (Act 148).
It was the case of the applicant that by his conditions of service, he is a diplomatic agent and as such would enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution unless there is a proper waiver of the immunity according to law.
According to the judge, in the circumstances of this case, the failure of ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) to set up immunity for the Accused and also the submission of the report to Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for prosecution, being Complainants in the case, and also making available their staff as a witness, was ample testament to the waiver of immunity, if the Applicant had any at all.
The Facts of the Case
On 27th October, 2017, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) received a complaint from ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), Accra, that Accused and some other persons had defrauded them.
The Accused is the Accountant of ERERA. He was employed in 2009 and later suspended for financial irregularities.
Investigations revealed that the Accused took advantage of the absence of role segregation in the accounts department of ERERA and defrauded the said Authority.
Investigations also revealed that the Accused forged and possessed letters which appear as if they were written by council members of the Authority.
The said letters were sent to some banks including Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana Limited and Ecobank Ghana Limited, authorizing them to pay huge sums of funds into the accounts of a company known as Approach Enterprise, fictitious accounts the Accused created in the said banks and his personal accounts in the same banks.
Investigations also revealed that the Accused forged signatures of council members of ERERA on official letterheads of ERERA, managed to possess and forged a stamp of ERERA and used it for unlawful financial activities.
Further investigations have revealed that the Accused defrauded ERERA in the sum of US$2, 123, 696 and he intentionally and dishonestly appropriated US$914, 768 belonging to ERERA.
The personal accounts of the Accused have been frozen, awaiting the banks to furnish investigators with information.
The Accused person has been charged with various financial crimes.
Source: GhanaJustice/F.Kyeremateng
