The court has therefore dismissed the application.
The former SSNIT Director-General together with four others were accused of causing financial loss in the SSNIT Operational Business Suite (OBS) project totaling, USD 14.8 million.
The four include a former Information Technology (IT) Manager at SSNIT, John Hagan Mensah; Chief Executive Officer of Perfect Business Systems (PBS), Juliet Hassana Kramer; a former Head of Management Information Systems (MIS) at SSNIT, Caleb Kwaku Afaglo, and the lawyer for SSNIT, Peter Hayibor.
Delivering its ruling, the court presided over by Justice Yaw Appau, in a unanimous decision, noted that the charges preferred against the accused did not meet constitutional requirements.
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A former Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Mr Ernest Thompson, and four others have, for now, no case to answer concerning the charges of causing financial loss of $14.8 million to the state and others levelled against them.
In a unanimous decision given Wednesday [March 17, 2021], a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, presided over by Justice Yaw Apau, held that the Attorney-General (A-G) failed to provide sufficient particulars of offence to the charges levelled against the five individuals.
It said the failure by the A-G to provide sufficient particulars meant the charges did not meet the constitutional requirement of fair trial, as stipulated by Article 19 (2) of the 1992 Constitution.
Mr Ernest Thompson, former Director-General of SSNIT leaving the court after the judgment. Pictures by GABRIEL AHIABOR
A former Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Mr Ernest Thompson, and four others accused of causing financial loss of $14.8million to the state are currently free from the charges levelled against them.
In a unanimous decision, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, presided over by Justice Yaw Apau, on Wednesday [March 17, 2021] held that the Attorney-General (A-G) failed to provide sufficient particulars of offence to the charges levelled against the five individuals.
According to the court, the failure by the A-G to provide sufficient particulars meant the charges did not meet the constitutional requirement of fair trial as stipulated by Article 19(2) of the 1992 Constitution, reports Graphic Online’s Justice Agbenorsi who was in the courtroom for the judgment.
SSNIT scandal: Supreme Court shifts ruling on Ernest Thompson, four others to March 17 LISTEN
JAN 27, 2021
The Supreme Court ruling on the appropriateness of the charges levelled against a former Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Mr Ernest Thompson has been adjourned to March 17, 2021.
Mr Thompson and four others have been accused of causing financial loss of more than $14.8 million in the SSNIT Operational Business Suite (OBS) project.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court was expected to rule on that application filed by the State at the apex court challenging the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the particulars of offence levelled against Thompson were scanty today, Wednesday, January 27, 2021.