The High Court in Accra has rejected a request by Deputy Attorney General Dr Justice Srem-Sai to re-examine the prosecution’s first witness in the ongoing trial of two former Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund (GIIF) officials accused of causing two million United States dollars financial loss to the state.
Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay on Monday ruled that the prosecution failed to satisfy the court on the grounds for re-examination and could not identify which questions and answers required clarification.
Solomon Asamoah, former Chief Executive Officer of GIIF, and Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, former Board Chairman of the Fund, face charges relating to the alleged unauthorised disbursement of two million dollars for the Accra Sky Train project.
The prosecution’s first witness, Yaw Odame-Darkwa, a former GIIF board member and head of the Audit Committee, maintained throughout his testimony that the GIIF board did not approve the two million dollar investment and that it should not have been undertaken.
The defence, however, tendered multiple documents and email correspondence indicating approval of the project. These include an October 2018 email circulated to GIIF board members that listed the Accra Sky Train project as one of the projects approved by the Investment Committee and set for board discussion at a subsequent meeting.
Board-approved audited annual financial statements submitted earlier also list the Skytrain project as one of the GIIF Board-approved investments. An internal GIIF memo, tendered without objection by the prosecution, referred to the Accra Sky Train project as one of the projects approved by the Fund’s board in 2019.
After the defence concluded cross-examination on Monday, Dr Srem-Sai sought clarification on board approval. He asked the witness whether any of the documents shown by defence counsel amounted to board approval of the Sky Train project.
Yaw Acheampong Boafo, counsel for Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi, objected, arguing that re-examination should only clear ambiguities. He stated that documentary evidence holds the highest probative value in the hierarchy of evidence and its content speaks for itself.
Victoria Barth, counsel for Mr Asamoah, supported the objection, noting that the Supreme Court has held in several cases that where there is conflicting oral testimony against documentary evidence whose authenticity is not in doubt, the court should favour the documentary evidence.
The Deputy Attorney General opposed the objection, arguing that no document in evidence shows the board approved the Sky Train project or the transfer of the two million dollars. He contended that if the documents spoke for themselves, the defence lawyers would have simply tendered them without asking questions.
Justice Kocuvie-Tay upheld the objections and declined the question. The case has been adjourned to Wednesday, February 11, 2026, for the prosecution to call its second witness.
In 2019, GIIF invested two million dollars for a 10 per cent stake in Africa Investor Skytrain Consortium Holdings, the company developing Accra’s Skytrain light railway project. The Africa Investor Group was selected and granted the rights to develop the project by the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Railways Development.
Following a change of government in December 2024, the Attorney General alleges the investment was made without board approval, resulting in willful financial loss to the state. The charges contain no allegations of personal gain or diversion of funds, and the state has not charged anyone from the Ministry of Railways Development or the government-selected sponsors.
