SFO Court Have Goofed

COCAINE-----And freezing of assets-----

-----Rojo should seek certiorari from High Court to quash decision

Strong doubts have been expressed about the legality of the purported freezing of the assets and bank accounts of 20 suspected drug dealers and Mr. Rojo Mettle-Nunoo as published by the media over the weekend.

According to the ‘Daily Graphic’ stories of last Friday and Saturday, the freeze was ordered by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and confirmed by an Accra High Court. The Judge who confirmed the order was not named.

The 20 affected persons have all either been directly implicated or named in the drug scandals under investigation by the Georgina Woode Committee or are standing trial for drug and drug-related offences. The only odd person whose name stands out like a sore thumb is Mr. Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, a leading member of the NDC.

Mr. Mettle-Nunoo has not been mentioned in connection with any of the drug cases. He rather appeared voluntarily before the Georgina Woode Committee and gave evidence of consultancy work he did for the company whose owners have been named in one of the drug scandals. Strangely, President Kufuor in his infamous “explain it to the bottom” speech at the Asylum Down Headquarters of the Greater Accra NPP used Rojo’s evidence as evidence of his (the President’s) “discovery” of Rojo and the NDC as the persons who have been bringing drug barons into the country.

A legal luminary contacted by the ‘Ghana Palaver’ has strongly suggested that both the SFO and the High Court may have erred in purporting to freeze the assets and bank account of the 21 persons. According to the legal luminary, the SFO’s power to freeze assets and bank accounts is contained in section 13 (9) and (10) of the Serious Fraud Office Act, 1993, Act 466. The two sub-sections read as follows:

“(9) Where the Director is of the opinion that to facilitate investigations it is necessary to have the assets and bank account of a person or organisation being or about to be investigate frozen, he may in writing direct the freezing of such of the assets and bank account of the person or organisation as the Director may determine.

(10) The Director shall within seven days of the freezing of any assets and bank account under this section apply to the High Court or Regional Tribunal for a confirmation of the freezing of the assets and bank account”.

The legal luminary explains that to the best of his knowledge, the 21 persons are not being investigated by the SFO. Neither has any indication been given that they are about to be investigated by the SFO. They are being investigated by the Georgina Woode Committee, by the Police, and they have allegedly been investigated by two Committees set up by the Minister of National Security. In the case of Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, he is not being investigated by anybody at all! “So what is the basis of the jurisdiction assumed by the SFO and the High Court to freeze their assets and bank account?” the legal luminary asked, puzzled. In the view of the legal luminary, the SFO Act does not confer jurisdiction on the SFO to freeze assets and bank account when another body or agency is conducting the investigation. It only has that power when it is the SFO itself that is conducting the investigation.

On the other hand, if the assets and bank account were frozen because the SFO was about to investigate the affected persons, which under section 13 (9) would confer jurisdiction on the SFO, then does it mean that after all the investigations conducted by the Police, the BNI, the CID, the Minister of National Security, the Attorney General’s Department (resulting in the decision to prosecute Tagor & Co.) and the Georgina Woode Committee, it is now that the SFO, which is under the Attorney General’s Department, is about to commence its own investigations?

In the view of the legal luminary, there is the strong suspicion that the whole freezing exercise is targeted at Rojo Mettle-Nunoo. After the embarrassment caused the President and the NPP Government by the former’s “explain it to the bottom” speech, the Government feels the need to do something to create the impression that there was a legal basis for President Kufuor’s preposterous charges. “An omnibus freezing of assets and bank accounts including those of Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, provides a convenient legal cover”, the legal luminary explained. He concluded that he hoped Rojo’s lawyers would go to the Supreme Court to seek an order of certiorari to quash the decisions of both the SFO and the High Court.