Aggudey for court on Thursday

An Accra High Court will on Thursday hear the case of the 2004 presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), George Opesika Agguddey, who is challenging the judgment of an Accra District Court over non-payment of his workers’ social security contributions.

The District Court, three weeks ago, threw out an application for a stay of execution on its judgment filed by Mr. Agguddey because the application lacked substance.

Mr. Agguddey, subsequently forwarded the same application to the high court seeking the court to halt the judgment pending the determination of his appeal.

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is expected to file an affidavit in opposition to his application before the case.

Mr. Agguddey, who is also the Chief Executive of Gocrest Security Company, was on September 14, sentenced to a three-month imprisonment by an Accra District Magistrate’s Court presided over by Mr. Aboagye Tandoh, for failing to pay his workers’ social security contributions totaling Ghc2,635,161.90.

The court further ordered him to pay all his indebtedness in addition to a fine of Ghc6,000 or in default, serve an additional 18 months in jail.

Few minutes after the judgment, Mr. Agguddey fell unconscious and was taken to the Accra Police Hospital where he received treatment for a number of days before his lawyer, Kwabena Baiden, applied to an Accra High Court to annul his conviction.

His plea was accepted on health grounds and Mr. Agguddey was asked not to serve his sentence.

A week later, he filed an application for a stay of execution at the same district court, but that was thrown out. He is now seeking redress at the high court.

Mr. Agguddey was arraigned in February for non-payment of the contributions but pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail in the sum of Ghc100,000 with a cash surety of Ghc50,000 to be justified last March.

According to SSNIT prosecutors, Mr. Emmanuel Baddoo and Ms. Freda Naa Adjeley Konney, he had failed to pay Ghc1,036,986.77 SSNIT contributions of his workers from January 2010 to April 2012, which had accrued an interest of Ghc1,616,172.13.