Senior lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea had a demanding day at the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on Monday, moving between two separate courtrooms to represent accused persons in high-profile prosecutions being conducted under the Attorney-General’s ORAL initiative.
The first appearance was before the Specialized Court in the ongoing trial of Republic v Kwabena Adu Boahene & 2 Others, popularly referred to as the Cybersecurity Software Scandal case. Proceedings had resumed with the cross-examination of the prosecution’s fourth witness when Atta Akyea informed the court that he was due to appear in another criminal matter before a different division of the High Court.
He therefore prayed the court to briefly stand down proceedings to enable him to attend to the other case. The trial judge granted the request and temporarily suspended the hearing.
Atta Akyea then appeared before General Jurisdiction Court 2 in Republic v Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi) & 2 Others, a case arising from the alleged EXIM Bank loan transaction.
Announcing his appearance, Atta Akyea informed the court that he had been newly retained as counsel for the accused persons. He subsequently applied for additional time to enable the parties to conclude ongoing plea negotiations.
Responding to the application, the Deputy Attorney-General indicated that the prosecution did not oppose the request in principle. He explained that the recent change of defence counsel, coupled with the conviction of one of the accused persons in a separate criminal matter last week, had affected efforts to conclude the plea discussions.
The court granted the request and adjourned the case to 27 August 2026 for the parties to conclude the plea negotiations and report back to the court.
Following the adjournment, Atta Akyea returned to the Specialized Court where proceedings in the Kwabena Adu Boahene trial resumed with the continuation of the cross-examination of the prosecution’s fourth witness.
