New twist in former MASLOC boss trial

Moves by state prosecutors to have a former boss of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, tried in absentia have taken a new twist.

The Accra High Court is expected to give a ruling on February 28 on whether Attionu should be tried in absentia, but her legal team has requested the presiding judge to recuse herself and not be the one to deliver the ruling.

At Tuesday’s hearing, lawyer for Attionu, Agbesi Dzapkasu, said Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, had given a similar ruling and, therefore, she should recuse herself.

“We pray that as far as this application is concerned, your Ladyship should not be the one to give a ruling on the application for trial in absentia,” counsel argued.

Go to Supreme Court

In response, Justice Asare-Botwe said she was going to rule on the application for trial in absentia based on its merit and not as a result of a different ruling she had delivered in another case.

Source: Graphic Online