A seven-member Supreme Court panel presided over by Justice Julius Ansah, has postponed its judgement in the case between the Dynamic Youth Movement of Ghana (DYMOG) and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, as well as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), to the 4th of June 2019.
The Apex Court was expected to deliver its judgment today, Tuesday, 14th May, 2019.
[contextly_sidebar id=”sIdQiOhGniPIhhN1zuBX9Sk82KOCWvjK”]But the Registrar of the Court on the 14th of May, instead announced that judgement would be delivered on June 4.
In January 2018, the group known as DYMOG, dragged CHRAJ to the apex court for allegedly overstepping its limits in the controversial 2.25 billion-dollar Eurobond issued to FT.
DYMOG sued the Commission for clearing the Finance Minister of the allegation of conflict of interest in relation to the issuance of the government bond.
The group claimed that CHRAJ, in reviewing a petition on the controversial bond, decided to make some assertions on the matter that are ‘totally’ out of context thereby infringing the provisions of the 1992 constitution.
They are invoking the proper jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret Article 284 of the 1992 constitution.
The article states: “A public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the functions of his office.”
Background
DYMOG in their lawsuit contended that the Finance Minister in issuing the $2.25 billion bond to Franklin Templeton placed himself in a conflict of interest situation because one of the directors of the US-based investment group Trevor Trefgarne was also a director of a company, Enterprise Insurance, owned by the Minister.
Among the reliefs the group sought include, “(a) declaration that by going beyond investigations to make a pronouncement (of guilty or otherwise) on the 1st Defendant in respect of the allegation of breach of conflict of interest, the 2nd Defendant has contravened Article 287 of the 1992 Constitution.
“(b)A declaration that by interpreting Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution (as disclosed between paragraph 3 of page 127 and paragraph 3 of page 133 of the Report) the 2nd Defendant has contravened Article 130(1)(a) of the 1992 Constitution.”
DYMOG also sought a declaration that “by issuing or overseeing the issuance of the said bonds to Templeton without disclosing his relational interest with a director at Templeton, one Trevor G. Trefgarne, the 1st Defendant has acted in contravention of Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution.”
The bond in question was issued in February 2017, shortly after the Akufo-Addo government had been sworn into office.
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By: citinewsroom.com|Ghana