The second prosecution witness of the Attorney General, in the ongoing trial of Solomon Asamoah and Professor Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi (Sky Train Case), Kofi Boakye Esq., skipped court today, Tuesday, 24 February 2026, after a hearing the day before, which saw the lawyer for the first accused person, cross-examining him for well over 2 hours.
State prosecutors told the High Court that their witness had called to inform them that he was unable to attend the hearing due to a personal emergency and was therefore requesting an adjournment. The High Court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kokuvie-Tay, though visibly unhappy, obliged and adjourned the sitting to Thursday, 26 February 2026.
Today’s hearing would have been the 4th day of cross-examination of the second prosecution witness, Kofi Boakye Esq., by Victoria Barth Esq., the lawyer for the first accused, Solomon Asamoah.
At the sitting of the court on Monday, 23 February 2026, Mr Kofi Boakye while under cross-examination pointed out in answer to a question posed by Victoria Barth that as far as the board of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) was concerned, the phrase “Board Approval” did not constitute a “Complete Approval” of any issues before the board during its meetings.
For example, he stated that “the Board approved an investment in Hotel Georgia, but for a simple reason that, among other things, the terms of financing were not concluded upon by the parties, no approval was given to this project by the Board.”
Question: “So, according to you, when the GIIF Board uses the term “Board Approval” in its minutes, does that imply some form of approval, but not complete approval of a project?”
Answer: “That is correct.”
Question: “Turn to page 3 of Exhibit 24D, that is the Investment Committee memo on the Sky Train Project, which was sent to Board Members by A1 two days before the meeting of 24th October 2018. You will agree with me that the members of the Project Consortium are listed on page 3 of Exhibit 24D. Are the consortium members listed on page 3?”
Answer: “Yes, on page 3 of Exhibit 24D, one finds the names of members stated to be part of the project consortium. However, this Investment Memo was not discussed, considered, or deliberated upon in any form at the meeting of 24th October 2018, simply because it was not an item for consideration by the Board at its meeting.
“One therefore finds nowhere in the minutes of 24th October 2018 a consideration by the Board of an Investment Memo received from Management on the Sky Train Project.”
Question: “You will agree with me that agenda items 7.0 and 7.1 of Exhibit 4 for the Board meeting of 24th October 2018, were on the Accra Sky Train Project.”
Answer: “One finds a reference to the Sky Train Project at items 7.0 and 7.1. One does not find from 7.0 and 7.1 that the Board had considered and approved the Sky Train Project. Item 7.1 captures a statement made by the CEO; 7.1 does not state that the Board had considered an investment memo and given its approval to the project.”
The court was adjourned until Thursday, 26 February 2026, for further cross-examination of the second prosecution witness.
Background
In 2019, the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) invested US$2 million for a 10% stake in Africa Investor Skytrain Consortium Holdings (“Ai Skytrain”), the company developing Accra’s Skytrain light railway project.
The Africa Investor Group (the “Sponsors”) was selected and granted the rights to develop the project by the Government of Ghana (“GoG”) through the Ministry of Railways Development (“MORD”).
At the time, the Chairman of GIIF was Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was Mr Solomon Asamoah. The Chairman had previously been a member of the GoG. Mr. Asamoah was an international development banker who had been headhunted for the position by a UK recruitment agency.
Following a change of government in Ghana in December 2024, the GoG, through the office of the Attorney General of Ghana, now alleges that this action was taken without Board approval, resulting in a willful financial loss to the state, as there is as yet “no railway built”.
It should be noted that there are no allegations of personal gain or diversion of funds in the charges, and the state has not charged anyone from MORD or the GoG-selected sponsors; only the GIIF Chairman and CEO have been charged.
The state witnesses who initially faced charges of causing financial loss to the state themselves dropped these charges after stating they did not approve the project, casting significant doubt on the reliability of their statements.
The prosecution’s case is built almost entirely on these statements to show that a legitimate transaction was “unauthorized”, without which there would be no case to answer.
“The prosecution’s case appears to be politically motivated, intended to fulfill a campaign promise to prosecute members of the previous government. It is unsupported by the facts, relying on demonstrably false witness statements,” a lawyer familiar with the case stated on condition of anonymity
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