A warrant has been issued for the release of the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu, from prison custody.
The warrant paves the way for her release from prison custody.
The Attorney-General yesterday withdrew a motion at the Court of Appeal which was seeking to halt her release from prison custody.
The motion for stay of execution was withdrawn by Principal State Attorney, Hilda Craig.
The motion was subsequently struck out as withdrawn.
But the prosecution instead filed the motion at the Supreme Court, meaning until the Supreme Court hears the new motion and decides otherwise, the former MASLOC CEO remains free.
On July 30 this year, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal quashed Ms Tamakloe-Attionu’s conviction and 10-year sentence on 78 corruption-related charges.
Background
Ms Tamakloe-Attionu, who headed MASLOC from 2013 to 2017, was convicted by the High Court’s Financial and Economic Crimes Division in April 2024 on 78 counts, including stealing, conspiracy to steal, causing financial loss to the state, money laundering and procurement offences, over allegations that she embezzled several millions of cedis in public funds between 2013 and 2016.
She had left Ghana in 2019 after obtaining court permission to travel for a medical check-up, but did not return for the continuation of her trial, resulting in the forfeiture of her sureties’ bonds.
She was tried in absentia by the court presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal with additional responsibilities as a High Court judge.
She was, however, extradited from the United States to Ghana in June 2026 to begin serving her sentence, the first of such extraditions between the two countries since 2009.
Appeal
On July 30, 2026, the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ankamah, with Justices Samuel Obeng-Diawuo and Emmanuel Senyo Amedahe concurring, held that the trial judge had repeatedly shifted the burden of proof onto the appellant, contrary to the constitutional presumption of innocence.
It added that the prosecution had failed to prove several of the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The court first dismissed a preliminary objection by the State that Ms Tamakloe-Attionu, having jumped bail and left the country in 2019, was disentitled from appealing.
The panel held that there was no constitutional or statutory bar preventing a person convicted in absentia from exercising their right of appeal, once the proper procedure for filing the appeal had been followed.
A few hours after the judgment, the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court, stating that it was dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit and discharge the respondent.
Alongside the notice of appeal, the Attorney-General also filed a motion for stay of execution pending appeal, praying the Court of Appeal to stay execution of its judgment acquitting and discharging Ms Tamakloe-Attionu until the Supreme Court determined the appeal.
It is that stay of execution that has been refiled at the Supreme Court.
