The Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by the second accused in the ongoing Skytrain trial, Prof Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi, seeking to halt proceedings at the High Court pending the determination of his appeal against the dismissal of his submission of no case.
Prof Ameyaw-Ekumfi, a former Board Chair of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), had asked the Court of Appeal to stay proceedings in the criminal trial while he pursued his challenge to the High Court’s decision to dismiss his submission of no case after the close of the prosecution’s case.
The Court, however, held that the applicant had failed to demonstrate the existence of exceptional circumstances warranting the grant of a stay of proceedings.
The Court consequently dismissed the application and directed that the case should take its normal course.
Second attempt to halt trial fails
The decision comes a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a separate application by the first accused, former GIIF Chief Executive Officer Solomon Asamoah, seeking an interlocutory injunction to restrain the High Court from continuing with the Skytrain trial.
Mr Asamoah had filed a certiorari application at the Supreme Court seeking to quash the High Court’s refusal of his submission of no case and subsequently sought an injunction pending the determination of that application.
Justice Senyo Dzamefe, JSC, sitting as a single Justice of the Supreme Court, dismissed the injunction application, holding, among other things, that Mr Asamoah had not disclosed a serious case to be tried or demonstrated the irreparable harm that would result if the injunction was refused.
The Supreme Court also considered the matters raised by the first accused to be matters for appeal rather than grounds for the exercise of the Court’s supervisory jurisdiction.
Trial cleared to proceed
With both the first and second accused persons having failed in separate applications seeking to halt proceedings, there is now no order stopping the High Court from moving the case forward.
The accused persons are expected to file their respective defences by September 23, 2026, which the High Court has set as the final extended deadline for them to do so.
The Skytrain case
Solomon Asamoah and Prof Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi are standing trial over allegations relating to the payment of US$2 million towards the proposed Skytrain project without the requisite board approval.
The two accused persons have denied the allegations and have exercised their respective legal rights to challenge the prosecution’s case.
The prosecution’s case has now closed, and the High Court’s dismissal of the accused persons’ submissions of no case has paved the way for them to open their defence.
With the latest application by Prof Ameyaw-Ekumfi dismissed, both accused persons are expected to comply with the High Court’s September 23 deadline as the substantive trial continues.
