A High Court has ordered former Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) Chief Executive Officer, Solomon Asamoah, and former GIIF Board Chairman, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, to open their defence in the ongoing criminal trial over the alleged loss of US$2 million in the controversial Sky Train project.
The ruling follows the dismissal of a submission of no case filed by the two accused persons.
Court Rejects No-Case Submission
Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Justice Srem-Sai, announced the development in a Facebook post on Thursday, July 2.
He said the accused had argued that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to require them to mount a defence.
However, the High Court rejected the submission after reviewing the evidence presented by the prosecution.
“The Court has since directed them to open their defence and give reasons why they should not be convicted for causing US$2 million loss to the nation,” Justice Srem-Sai stated.
The Sky Train Case
The case, Republic v Solomon Asamoah & Another, centres on a US$2 million payment made by GIIF in 2019 for an equity stake in the Sky Train project development company.
According to the prosecution, the payment was made without approval from the GIIF Board for a rail project that was never implemented.
The State alleges that the transaction resulted in a financial loss to the Republic and amounted to the dissipation of public funds.
Prosecution Team Commended
Justice Srem-Sai praised the prosecution team for its work throughout the trial.
He expressed appreciation to the State Attorneys and investigators from the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) for their efforts in building the case.
“Gratitude to our team of State Attorneys and NIB investigators who have worked tirelessly in the past months to make this possible,” he wrote.
The trial will now proceed with Solomon Asamoah and Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi expected to present their defence before the court determines the outcome of the case.
