Member of Parliament for Bawku Central in the Upper East Region, Mahama Ayariga, has filed a motion seeking an order of the Court to Struck out the Charge Sheet of the Special Prosecutor accusing him of fraudulently evading customs duties and taxes as well as abusing his office as a Public Officer for his private benefit.
The Court Presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, did not take the plea of the two accused persons nor gave any consideration to issues of bail in the case involving Mahama Ayariga (MP) and one Kendrick Akwasi Marfo of Atlas Rent-A-Car company, because of the said application that is pending before the Court.
The case which was called at about 9am today was stood down till 1pm because the Member of Parliament was not present in Court.
The Court directed lawyers of the MP lead by Godwin Tamakloe, to produce the accused person before the Court before hearing at 1pm.
At about 12:50pm, Mahama Ayariga, in the company of the Minority leader in Parliament Haruna Iddrisu, and other Members of Parliament including Samuel Okudjeto, Dominic Aryine, Ato Forson, Kofi Armah Baah, Thomas Ampem, James Agalga, Sam George, and Bernard Ahiafor filed in into the Financial and Economic Crime High Court two, (2) for the hearing.
At the commencement of the hearing, lawyer for the 1st accused person, Godwin Tamakloe, indicated to the Court that a certificate of the Speaker of Parliament has been issued to Ayariga to present to the Court.
Essentially, the certificate seeks to ask the Court to invite the MP only on days when Parliament is not sitting.
In a brief ruling, the court referred to Article 118 of the 1992 Constitution which states: Neither the Speaker, nor a member of, nor the Clerk to, Parliament shall be compelled, “while attending Parliament to appear as a witness in any court or place out of Parliament”.
Secondly, The certificate of the Speaker that a member or the Clerk is attending the proceedings of Parliament is conclusive evidence of attendance at Parliament” and said it has taken notice of the certificate of the Speaker.
However, the Member of Parliament is to appear in Court as an Accused Person* and not as a Witness as captured in Article 118 of the Constitution 1992.
The court added that the case will continue according to law and it will be dealt with expeditiously.
Subsequently, the Court adjourned sitting to the 10th of this month for the defence team to move their motions so filed.
The minority leader Haruna Iddrisu had this to say after the proceedings.
Earlier the Bawku Central MP turned down an invitation by the Special prosecutor Martin Amidu over the corruption probe involving him.
According to the former Sports Minister, he will not be able to attend to court on the said date because parliament will be in sessions and he will therefore be working for his constituents.
The Special Prosecutor has charged the Member of Parliament for abusing his office among other offenses.
This is the first case the Office is pursuing in court since its formation more than a year ago.
According to the writ sighted “Mahama Ayariga aged 44 years, in November 2017 at Tema in the Greater Accra Region did fraudulently evade customs duties and taxes by paying about six thousand cedis instead of the approved duties and taxes of about thirty seven thousand cedis to clear three Toyota V8 Land Cruisers.
He is also accused of allegedly abusing his office as a public officer for his private benefit by “selling three Toyota V8 Land Cruisers meant to be used for his official duties as a Member of Parliament to Kendrick Akwasi Marfo of ATLAS-Rent-A-Car at a price of forty thousand, (40,000)Ghana cedis each.
This report was filed by gbcghanaonline court correspondent, Yvonne Asare Offei.
