Abodakpi’s bail appeal rejected

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, April 20,2007
AN Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday dismissed the application for bail pending appeal filed by Daniel Kwasi Abodakpi, former Trade and Industry Minister who was jailed 10 years by the court on February 5, for causing financial loss to the state.

With this development Abodakpi 57, who is the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Keta, will remain at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons until his appeal against his conviction pending at the Court of Appeal is heard.

Hearing of the appeal is slated for April 23.

Dismissing the application Justice S.T. Farkye of the Court of Appeal, said Abodakpi could not show any exceptional reason to justify the granting of bail.

“He could not show any substantial circumstance that his appeal will succeed, he said and added: “Being an MP does not make his case a special one. He was convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction and the conviction was based on evidence brought before the court.”

The judge held that there will be no miscarriage of justice if the application was refused because the appeal for bail was “unmeritorious” and the court’s decision was not erroneous whether in fact or law.

The court further said that Abodakpi’s argument that he will not jump bail because his entire family were in the country could not be true because the convict during the trial told the court that all his children were residing abroad.

In court to hear the verdict were his family members, sympathisers and some NDC supporters.

Abodakpi was jailed 10 years with hard labour on seven counts of conspiracy causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretences.

He was said to have illegally authorised the payment of 400,000 dollars to Dr Frederick Owusu Boadu, a Ghanaian consultant in Texas, United States, from the Trade and Investment Project (TIP) fund.

The 8 million dollar TIP fund was set up by the NDC government to promote the non-traditional export sector.

Abodakpi was originally charged with Victor Selormey, a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who died in the course of the trial.