The Attorney-General has withdrawn an application seeking to revoke the travel permission granted to the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, after the court order allowing his trip expired.
The High Court in Accra had earlier granted Aludiba leave to travel to London, with the order set to lapse on July 12, 2026. The prosecution, however, filed a motion on July 8, seeking to have the travel permission revoked before the expiry of the order.
When the matter came before the court on Thursday, July 16, Deputy Attorney-General Dr. Justice Srem-Sai applied for leave to withdraw the motion, explaining that the application had become unnecessary because the travel order had already expired.
“We pray for leave to withdraw the motion considering that the order in respect of which the motion was filed lapsed on July 12, 2026,” Dr. Srem-Sai told the court.
Counsel for the first accused, former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, opposed the circumstances surrounding the application, arguing that the prosecution had sought to undermine the court’s earlier decision.
According to Mr. Dame, the motion was deliberately filed and scheduled in a manner that prevented his client from benefiting from the court’s travel order.
“Clearly, the application itself was intended to truncate the order of the court to ensure that the first accused was unable to act in accordance with the orders of the court,” he argued.
He further contended that because the application was fixed for hearing after the travel order had expired, it could not have achieved any lawful purpose other than frustrating the court’s directive.
Mr. Dame also accused the prosecution of failing to comply with the court’s orders by continuing to hold his client’s passport and money.
“As we averred in the affidavit in opposition, the Republic caused the arrest of the accused and seized his passport and money. They remain in disobedience of the orders of the court by continuing to withhold the passport,” he submitted.
Responding to the allegations, Dr. Srem-Sai denied that the prosecution had influenced the scheduling of the hearing.
“It is not correct that the Republic fixed the date for the hearing of the motion. It is common knowledge that the court registry is responsible for fixing dates for motions and not any of the parties,” he said.
Addressing the issue of the passport, the Deputy Attorney-General told the court that the accused had been asked to report on July 14 to retrieve the document but failed to do so.
“He refused to report,” Dr. Srem-Sai stated.
In his ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Francis Apangabonu Achibonga, granted the Attorney-General’s request and struck out the application.
“The motion filed on July 8, 2026, seeking an order to revoke the leave granted to the first accused person to travel to London is hereby struck out as withdrawn,” Justice Achibonga ruled.
Aludiba and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, were present in court when the ruling was delivered.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
