The High Court in Accra has struck out as withdrawn an application by the Attorney-General seeking to revoke the travel permission granted to former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, after ruling that the order had already lapsed.
The application, filed on July 8, 2026, sought to set aside an earlier order permitting Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, the first accused person in a pending criminal case, to travel to London.
The court held that the travel order, which required him to return to Ghana by July 12, 2026, was self-regulating and had expired, leaving no subsisting order for it to revoke.
Motion withdrawn
When the case was called Thursday morning (July 16), the Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, moved the application and relied on the motion paper and affidavit in support.
However, the court observed that there was no existing order before it to revoke.
"There is no order for me to revoke. That order was specific and clearly stated that the accused was to return by the 12th. Having elapsed, I don't think there is any pending order. The order itself was self-regulating in terms of its validity," the judge held.
The court added that it could only revoke an order that was still in existence.
Following the court's observation, Dr Srem-Sai applied to withdraw the motion, explaining that the travel order had lapsed on July 12.
The court consequently struck out the motion as withdrawn.
Defence
Counsel for Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, Godfred Yeboah Dame, argued that the application was intended to frustrate the court's earlier order permitting his client to travel.
He contended that by filing the application and having it fixed for hearing after the expiry of the travel period, the Republic had succeeded in subverting the lawful order of the court.
Mr Dame further argued that the application could not have been granted because the order it sought to revoke had already expired.
He also submitted that the Republic remained in breach of the court's order by continuing to retain his client's passport after his arrest.
Responding, Dr Srem-Sai rejected the suggestion that the Republic was responsible for the hearing date, explaining that dates for motions were fixed by the court registry and not by the parties.
On the issue of the passport, he told the court that Abdul-Wahab Aludiba had been asked to report on Monday to retrieve the document but failed to do so.
Background
On June 29, 2026, the High Court, granted Abdul-Wahab Aludiba permission to travel to the United Kingdom for a scheduled appointment with his optician in London following a worsening eye condition. The court directed him to return to Ghana by July 12, 2026.
