Wilfully causing financial loss to the state is archaic - Tsatsu
A private legal practitioner and former lecturer at the University of Ghana Law School, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, has challenged the misapplication of the charge, “wilfully causing financial loss to the state.”
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The charge, in his view, has always been misused and applied capriciously by political opponents against former public officials for their parochial interests against that of the state.
Mr Tsikata, a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), stated that a similar charge was applied against him when he left office in 2000 by the Kufuor administration.
“In my view, wilfully causing financial loss to the state has always been applied for political gains as against the national interest. If this persists, it will tend to discourage and frighten officials from giving out their best while in office, with the fear of being persecuted after they leave office,” he said.
He was speaking at a press conference in Accra yesterday following a decision by the Court of Appeal last Wednesday that he did no wrong while in office as GNPC boss.
He was supported by his wife, Ms Esther Cobbah, who is also the CEO of Stratcomm Africa, a media and communications agency.
‘Charge archaic’
Mr Tsikata said apart from the fact that the law was archaic, it also lacked proper and adequate definition to clearly identify what really constituted it.
“Since its enactment in the 1990s, it was only applied in 2000 even though it lacks proper definition, especially within the Ghanaian context,” he said, stressing that it ought to be applied genuinely and should be binding on anyone.
“I believe that the decision of the Court of Appeal last Wednesday, especially in upholding constitutional rights that are there for all of us, is an important decision which must not just be seen in relation to me, Tsatsu Tsikata.
“Upholding and enforcing the Constitution as the Court of Appeal did is valuable for all of us. No one has to go through what I went through that day and thereafter,” he said.
Tsatsu’s sentence
Mr Tsikata was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by the Accra Fast Track High Court on June 18, 2008 for causing financial loss to the state through a loan that the GNPC guaranteed for Valley Farms, a private cocoa-growing company.
He was found guilty on three counts of wilfully causing financial loss of GH¢230,000 to the state and another count of misapplying public property.
His trial started in 2002 and travelled back and forth the court ladder until his sentence, which generated a lot of controversy.
Valley Farms contracted the loan from Caisse Francaise de Development in 1991 but defaulted in the payment and the GNPC, which acted as the guarantor, was compelled to pay it in 1996.
Mr Tsikata was unconditionally pardoned by former President J.A. Kufuor on his last day in office but he rejected the pardon and insisted that he would appeal the decision of the High Court.
No grudge
When asked if he had any grudge against those who played any role in his conviction, he said he held no ill feelings against any individual, noting that whatever he went through taught him a lot of lessons.
He expressed his heartfelt appreciation to his family and friends and all those who had continued to follow him all the while.