Court dismisses EOCO's motion

Accra, July 19, GNA - The Human Rights Court on Tuesday dismissed a motion of stay of execution filed by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) in respect of the damages slapped on it by the court.

EOCO had been ordered to pay GH¢50,000 to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as damages and GH¢9,000 as cost for its raid on the Association's Office last year.

EOCO, a public institution, says it could not pay the said damages to the GFA, adding that such a payment might cripple the organization, hence filed a motion to stay execution of the ruling pending an appeal before the Human Rights Court.

In the ruling of the court, it noted that the sections of the High Court Rules being evoked by EOCO could be applied in an instance where they had accepted the judgment of the court. According to the court it would be an obvious embarrassment for the court to accept the EOCO's argument. The court said because the EOCO was challenging the order of the court it could not come under CI 47 of the High Court Rules, adding that amounted to abuse of the court's process, hence upheld the argument of the GFA.

It further awarded another GH¢500 as cost against the EOCO. At the Human Rights Court on Tuesday July 5, EOCO's lawyer, Dr Philip Anderson, had prayed the court to grant stay of execution pending the appeal, which was yet to be heard by the Court of Appeal. Citing the Rules of the Court, he said there had been some developments after the court's judgment hence the need for the court to stay the execution of its orders.

He said EOCO, which was a public institution, could not pay the said damages to the GFA, adding that such a payment might cripple the organization.

Dr Anderson further prayed the court not to 93shut the door of justice" on EOCO because the office was not financially sound to pay the damages.

Mr Thaddeus Sory, who represented the GFA, objected to EOCO's application and prayed the court not to entertain the motion since the application did not properly invoke the court's jurisdiction. On May 13, the Human Rights Court slapped the sum of GH¢50,000 on EOCO as damages to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) over the raid This was after it had ruled that the EOCO's actions were not proper. Personnel of the EOCO on December 7, 2010, raided the premises of the Ghana Football Association and made away with vital documents and nine computers.

The raid was said to have been carried out to facilitate investigations into alleged financial malfeasance by officials of the GFA.