The Supreme Court has awarded a cost of GH¢10,000 against Convener of FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor acting as lawyer for an NGO ‘Accountability Lab’ which had brought contempt proceedings against the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, GRA.
The amount is to be paid personally by Mr. Barker-Vormawor to the Court. The plaintiff was praying the Court to commit the GRA boss to prison for going ahead with the implementation of the E-Levy when there was an impending interlocutory application filed by three NDC MPs against it.
The Court identified several anomalies with the application and accordingly prompted Mr. Barker-Vormawor to withdraw it. Mr. Barker-Vormawor who said it was his first appearance as a lawyer before the court ignored the advice even after persistent promptings from the bench and proceeded to argue out his case.
The Court in its ruling described the application as defective, frivolous, and without merit adding that it did not deem it necessary to invite counsel for the GRA to respond to the application.
It held that the applicant demonstrated that he had no locus and also not clothed with authority to file the application to commit the Commissioner-General and the GRA for contempt of court.
